For the second year in a row, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry and Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait have made a friendly hockey wager as the Predators and the Ducks face off in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Win or lose, each city will send an assortment of food for the other city’s food bank after the conclusion of the NHL Western Conference Final, and the mayor of the losing city will wear the winning team’s jersey while delivering it. The losing city also will play music by artists from the winning city in the reception area of the Mayor’s Office for a day.
“The Predators are ready to skate to their first Stanley Cup Final, and while I love Mayor Tait, a fellow Vanderbilt graduate, I know Mike Fisher and the rest of our team are expert Duck hunters,” Mayor Barry said.
“I’m confident the Predators will be sending the Ducks off to join Donald and Daisy Duck at Disneyland, just as they did in Round 1 last year. And Second Harvest Food Bank advancing its mission of stopping hunger in Middle Tennessee will be another wonderful outcome of this playoff series. Go Preds!”
“The Anaheim Ducks are on a roll, and we’re not stopping now,” Mayor Tait said. “We’re ready to knock out the Predators and move to the final to bring that cup back. They had better get used to hearing No Doubt in Music City! Go Ducks!
“But no matter the outcome, I’m happy that we’ll be able to contribute to ending hunger in our communities.”
If Nashville wins the best-of-seven series, Mayor Tait will wear a Predators jersey while delivering a food basket from Nashville’s world-famous Loveless Cafe to Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County’s pantry at Lincoln Elementary School.
The ‘Preds Pantry Pack’ will include biscuit mixes, waffle mixes, blackberry, strawberry and peach preserves, syrup, sorghum, honey, apple butter and pumpkin butter from the Loveless.
If Anaheim wins, Mayor Barry will wear a Ducks jersey as she delivers a food basket with items from Anaheim businesses to Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.
Also, each NHL team’s foundation will give $1,000 to its own city’s food bank, regardless of the outcome.
“Advancing to the Western Conference Final has allowed both teams the opportunity to push rivalries aside and come together for the shared purpose of giving back to our communities and take part in this fun wager!” Nashville Predators Senior Director of Community Relations Rebecca King said.
Finally, if Nashville wins, Mayor Tait’s constituents will hear a CD full of songs by Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum, Kings of Leon and other Music City artists in the mayor’s reception area on the day he delivers the Nashville food basket. If Anaheim wins, Mayor Barry’s constituents will hear the sounds of No Doubt, Pennywise and other Orange County artists on the day she takes the Anaheim food basket to Second Harvest.
The two teams also played in the first round of the playoffs in 2016. The Predators won the series, and Nashville won a trumpet made in Anaheim for Metro Schools as a result of Mayor Barry and Mayor Tait’s first wager.
