Predators Holdings owns and operates the Nashville Predators professional hockey franchise, which joined the National Hockey League as an expansion team in 1998. The team has yet to play for the Stanley Cup championship, but Nashville has made a number of appearances in the NHL playoffs. Nashville's Bridgestone Arena serves as home ice for the Preds. A group of local investors led by David Freeman purchased the hockey team in 2007 from Craig Leipold, who helped launch hockey in the Music City.

MLB oversees the game of professional baseball in North America that includes 30 franchises in 28 cities across the US and in Canada. The teams operate as a separate business but each is regulated and governed by MLB. The league sets official rules, regulates team ownership, and collects licensing fees for merchandise. It also sells national broadcasting rights and distributes fees to the teams. (Regional broadcast rights are held by each franchise.) MLB was formed when the rival National and American Leagues joined together in 1903.

Equity Corporate Housing (ECH) provides furnished and unfurnished apartments to companies looking for temporary housing for their employees. The residences, available for both short- and long-term lease, are primarily used by employees being relocated to new cities. A division of apartment rental firm Equity Residential, ECH has access to more than 550 properties throughout the US that its parent company owns and manages. In addition, the company has access to properties in some 15 other countries through a partnership with Ascott Group, operator of serviced residences in Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East.

Benchmark Hospitality International is going to resort to -- but you can bet it has high standards. Benchmark Hospitality is a manager and marketer of resorts, conference centers, and hotels across the US; it also has one location in Tokyo. Its portfolio of more than 20 properties includes Scottsdale Resort and Conference Center (Arizona), Cheyenne Mountain Resort (Colorado Springs, Colorado), and Turtle Bay Resort (Oahu, Hawaii). Many of Benchmark Hospitality's resorts include luxury spas and golf courses.

Woody's Bar-B-Q operates and franchises more than 30 barbecue restaurants in Florida and Tennessee. The eateries specialize in barbecue ribs and chicken; the menu also includes sandwiches, sides, and deserts. Many locations offer catering services in addition to dining. Woody's also markets a branded line of barbecue sauces through its Web site. CEO Woody Mills founded the chain with his first wife, Yolanda, in 1980 and began franchising in 1989.

When you reach this Rock Bottom, you'll find a warm meal and craft brewed beers waiting. Rock Bottom Restaurants operates about 100 eateries and brew pubs across the US, including its flagship pizzeria chain Old Chicago and its Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery pub chain. Its pizzerias, found in Colorado, Minnesota, and 20 other states, feature deep-dish, Chicago-style pizza and more than 110 different brands of beer. Rock Bottom's smaller brew pub chain offers fish, pasta, and meat, plus a variety of microbrews produced on the premises. In addition to its corporate-run units, the company has a small number of franchised Old Chicago locations. Chairman Frank Day opened the first Old Chicago restaurant in 1976.

What's more all American than a buff body? All American Fitness Centers operates a chain of more than a dozen fitness and health facilities in the Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma areas. The centers offer the standard weight, walking, and cycling machines, as well as fitness classes. It also offers personal trainers who wrap everything into the company's Six Dimensional Training system, which includes nutritional guidance, cardio training, flexibility, core strength, resistance training, and professional guidance. Some locations have pools, spas, tanning booths, saunas, and child care.

American Vantage Companies, through its subsidiaries, engages in the ownership and management of Border Grill Las Vegas restaurant. It holds a 49% interest in Border Grill, which owns and operates the Border Grill Las Vegas restaurant in a casino hotel located in Las Vegas. American Vantage Companies was founded in 1979 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Watford Leisure operates the Watford Football Club, home to football (soccer) team the Hornets. The team made its first Premiership appearance in 2000 and currently plays in the recently formed Championship. The team's uniform is sponsored by British loan company Loans.co.uk and is supplied by Diadora. Watford plays at the 22,000-capacity Vicarage Road Stadium. Graham Taylor, a former manager of Watford FC, was named chairman of the board on an interim basis in 2009. Investor Michael Ashcroft owns more than a third of Watford Leisure and granted a �5 million ($8 million US) loan to the company to save it from administration toward the end of 2009.

Chicago National League Ball Club operates the Chicago Cubs franchise of Major League Baseball, which has gone without a World Series title since 1908. The team was formed as the Chicago White Stockings in 1876 and bore several monikers (Colts, Orphans, Spuds) before settling on the Cubs in 1907. Despite the lack of championships, Chicagoans still flock to famed Wrigley Field (the second-oldest ballpark in MLB, after Boston's Fenway Park) to see their Cubbies play. A group led by billionaire Tom Ricketts acquired a majority of the Cubs in 2009.

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