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Calgary businessman Brett Wilson is part owner of a 124-year-old English soccer team, a minor-league baseball team in Tennessee and, should everything fall into place, he may get a second chance to own a piece of the NHL's Nashville Predators.

He certainly has the connections.

An investment banker in the oil and gas industry, Wilson made headlines earlier this month when it was revealed he was the lead investor in the $97-million purchase of Derby County of the English Championship, one step down from the Premier League. What wasn't known, until recently, is that one of Wilson's partners is the Predators' majority owner, David Freeman.

Wilson and Freeman met almost a year ago in Nashville and discussed a possible investment in the hockey team. Those plans were derailed when William (Boots) Del Biaggio III was sued several times over for fraud and had his 27-per-cent stake in the Predators usurped by a U.S. bankruptcy court.

Freeman and his fellow Predators owners have made a bid to the bankruptcy trustee to buy Del Biaggio's share. Several sources have said Jim Balsillie, the co-founder of Canadian-based Research In Motion, is also keen to buy the 27 per cent, although there is no indication Balsillie has made a formal offer.

If the Freeman group does end up with 100-per-cent control of the Predators, Wilson is convinced he and Freeman will once again discuss a potential buy-in.

"Would I be interested in buying into the Predators? In a heartbeat, yeah," said Wilson, who is also known across Canada as a panelist on the CBC television show Dragons' Den. "The NHL knows I'm interested. I've supplied all the paperwork. Once Boots's share is free, we'll try to finalize an opportunity. My ownership unit would be nominal."

Wilson, 51, has been trying to join the NHL ownership ranks for years. He said he approached the Edmonton Oilers, who were sold in July for $200-million to pharmaceutical tycoon Daryl Katz. Wilson said he also approached the Calgary Flames and was unable to work a deal. That was before the NHL lockout of 2004-05.

Then last fall, while tending to business in Nashville, Wilson was introduced to members of the Predators' ownership group. Soon after, he met Freeman, the founder of a venture-capital firm. Wilson liked what he heard and saw.

"I have several businesses there and real estate. I happen to like the city and the NHL and no one else invited me to play," Wilson explained, noting how his money, had he bought into the Predators, "would have ended up in Boots's pocket. I was buying a portion of his share."

Wilson's application to become an NHL owner apparently met with the league's approval. He met "briefly" with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and was checked (to a degree) by league officials, who contacted the Calgary Petroleum Club, the Calgary Golf and Country Club and spoke to Wilson's references.

While the Predators ownership story continues to sit in limbo — Del Biaggio is also the subject of a Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal inquiry — Wilson is not worried about investing in a hockey team that has needed revenue-sharing payouts from its more successful NHL partners to make do.

"The Boots saga doesn't bother me at all. He's a shareholder who can't pay his bills. What's happening in the broad markets … that scares me," Wilson said. "But I like what Nashville is going to do and has done. I've been to several games there. It's a good team with a low payroll and enthusiastic fans."

Wilson bought into Derby County after being approached by Michigan-based General Sports and Entertainment. The co-founder of Calgary's FirstEnergy Capital Corp., Wilson is active both in charity fundraising and other business ventures, such as the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx baseball team and country singer Beverley Mahood.

As for his working relationship with Freeman, Wilson said, "I would participate with David Freeman, quite frankly, in any business he would go into. We've done a lot of deals on handshakes."