How an extinct saber-toothed cat made Regions the Nashville Predators' 1st jersey patch sponsor

More than 50 years ago, some 30 feet below ground at 315 Deaderick St., the Nashville Predators' relationship with Regions Bank began.

Neither the franchise nor the bank existed that day in 1971, when construction workers manning a backhoe discovered the 11,000-year-old bones of a saber-toothed cat, including a 9-inch fang, while digging at the site of what would first be known as the national headquarters of First American National Bank.

Twenty-seven years later, those bones and that fang inspired the name of the NHL expansion team in Nashville.

That partnership landed those bones — and in a way, the Predators and Regions Bank — in the Smithsonian after they jointly donated them, with replicas displayed at Bridgestone Arena. The two are partnering up again beginning this season.

Regions, originally known as First American National and one of the Predators' first sponsors, will become the first partner to have its logo sewn on to the team's home and away jerseys as part of a five-year deal. Regions also will serve as the official bank of the Predators and Bridgestone Arena.

The Predators will become the 17th team in the league to have such a patch sponsorship arrangement, and just the eighth with an agreement that covers home and away uniforms.

"Literally, they gave us our first name," Predators CEO Sean Henry said.

Former Predators goalie Pekka Rinne played the role of model and newsbreaker late last week when he modeled the new jersey and green logo in front of a group of about 200 Regions employees, who serenaded him with two standing ovations.

"I got to start my day with Pekka, so that's always a good day," Regions' Nashville market executive Lee Blank said. "It's a team everybody in Nashville can rally around.

"To use the overused quote from Wayne Gretzky, we think this is an opportunity to skate where the puck is going to be, not where it's been."

The Predators will celebrate their 25th anniversary this season, and Regions turned 140 this year. The patch partnership only made sense, Henry and Blank said.

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"Our approach was, whoever we have should be on this jersey forever," Henry said. "The contract is not forever, but if we do our job, it will work."

"When people come to town and say, 'We need to go to a Predators game because of the great customer service they deliver,' " Blank said. "That's what we try to emulate in our banks."

The NHL began allowing the patches last season. The Regions branding will be featured on the upper right chest of every official jersey the team sells and will be embedded with microchip technology that will allow interactive opportunities that could include rewards, messages about the community, ticket purchases or other points of sale.

Henry called it an engagement tool with multiple technologies emerging into one space. He said it's a branding opportunity, a call-to-action opportunity, a loyalty program and who knows what else.

"Knowing the Predators, they'll make really good stuff," Blank said.

Henry said he anticipates some blowback from traditionalists but added that branding on uniforms is nothing new. He pointed to Adidas, which makes NHL jerseys and has its logo on them.

"The very first branding was probably on someone's jersey," he said. "Maybe it was Spalding . . . literally was on his back and then became a part of them when (Albert Spalding) converted from player to manufacturer."

The jersey ads also aren't the first ads to appear as part of an NHL uniform. In 2020-21, the league began to allow advertising on helmets, which the Predators branded with the Bridgestone logo.

So when the Predators reached out to Regions with the proposal, it was quick to sign on to the deal, which also makes the Regions the official bank of the Ford Ice Centers in Bellevue and Antioch. Regions customers with Predators debit cards also will be given some yet-to-be-announce exclusive benefits.

"We learned more about what this journey means and where the industry is heading," Blank said. "It augments what we are about in this market. One, the rich history, but more importantly, where we want to go as an organization."

To think, it all began 30 feet deep in the Nashville soil.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Predators, Regions Bank team up for jersey patch sponsorship