NHL Ticket Revenue Per Team...

[Asher]

Lo and behold the Canadian teams are at the top...

http://www3.thestar.com/static/PDF/080530_nhl_tickets_revenue.pdf

[Asher]

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Hockey/article/433906

Canadian NHL teams mean money
RICK EGLINTON/TORONTO STAR

Canada's six clubs are responsible for bringing in almost one-third of NHL's entire ticket revenue

May 30, 2008 04:30 AM
Rick Westhead
Sports business columnist

A secret NHL report detailing the ticket revenues of its 30 teams reveals what Canadian hockey fans have long suspected and offers a compelling case for putting more teams north of the border.

The six Canadian teams account for 31 per cent of the $1.1 billion (U.S.) in league ticket revenue, and have gone through league-leading double-digit increases over last season, according to the internal NHL report.

Overall, the league has seen its ticket revenue rise almost 10 per cent, but 11 of the 24 U.S.-based clubs were either revenue-flat or lost ticket income.

Atop the list of income winners is the Maple Leafs, who nudged out the Montreal Canadiens to lead the league this past season with $1.9 million worth of ticket revenue per game. Based on 41 home games, that's $77.9 million a year – not counting revenue from pre-season games. A year ago, the Leafs generated $1.5 million a game, according the report obtained by the Star from several league sources.

The increase in the value of the Canadian dollar may be responsible for as much as half of the league's revenue gains since the NHL went through the lockout of 2004-05, say several sources familiar with NHL finances.

"If you take out the Canadian teams, which have done so well since the lockout largely because of the Canadian dollar, the league's revenues are actually only growing at a 2 per cent clip per year," says an executive with a U.S.-based NHL team, who requested anonymity.

"It's not enough. We're not really growing as a sport, and we're still invisible in the U.S."

The figures are sure to embolden Research In Motion co-founder Jim Balsillie in his efforts to add another Canadian-based team to the NHL. He has been stymied twice by the league in attempts to buy a U.S. club and bring it to southern Ontario.

"This really makes the case for another team in Canada, whether it's Hamilton, Winnipeg or Quebec City," says former Vancouver Canucks owner Arthur Griffiths.

"I think Hamilton has the best facility, but obviously faces challenges in what it would have to pay Toronto and Buffalo. Winnipeg is a good possibility, but the market there has shown a resistance to paying top dollar for tickets, and you wouldn't want to add a team that was going to be in the middle-of-the-pack for revenue, while Quebec City needs a huge infusion of investment for a new facility."

The NHL has refused comment on the internal report.

NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly has reviewed the document and said it highlights the importance of placing more franchises in Canada, instead of potential expansion cities such as Las Vegas, Houston or Kansas City.

"I think it would be a huge error not to relocate one of the existing franchises to Hamilton or Winnipeg," Kelly said.

The union chief added the league should embrace Balsillie's entreaties, not "shunt him off."

"This is a guy who has a true passion for the game and has vast resources," Kelly said. "He built his company from nothing into an $80-billion company. We would be foolhardy not to see his efforts happen."

Kelly said the soonest the league could realistically consider relocation or expansion is in time for the 2009-10 season.

The most interesting league data may concern the sad-sack Coyotes, who were last in ticket revenue at $450,000. The team is losing more than $30 million a season and was contacted over the past season by six potential buyers, including Balsillie's lawyer, Richard Rodier.

"We're substantially more optimistic about next year," says Jeff Shumway, a senior Coyotes executive. "Last year we had internal issues about where the franchise should go. We weren't all on the same page. Everyone is now committed to a youth movement."

Unlike other pro sports leagues such as the National Football League, which generates billions of dollars in revenue from huge TV and sponsorship contracts, the NHL is a so-called "gate-driven" league, accounting for almost half of the league's total revenue.

The league has said its attendance has hit records in each of the past three seasons. Trouble is, that's based merely on tickets distributed, not overall revenue from ticket sales.

In fact, eight U.S. teams – the Coyotes, the Florida Panthers, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders, Atlanta Thrashers, Washington Capitals, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues – generated less than half the amount of ticket revenue this season of the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators. At $1.2 million in ticket revenue per game, the Oilers and Senators garnered the least amount of ticket money among Canadian clubs.

The league's overall revenue this season is estimated to be as much as $2.56 billion, 10 per cent more than last year's $2.31 billion and 22 per cent more than the $2.1 billion generated in 2005-06, the first season played under the current labour contract.

[snoopy369]

You'll notice which team moved up the most this year (as a percent of LY's revenue)

That number will continue to climb ...

[Asher]

I'd hope so.

[snoopy369]

With any reasonable effort I expect that the 10-year target for revenue for the 'Hawks would be around $900k to $1m in 2008 dollars...

On the flip side, how is DET only $1m in revenue/game? Do they not charge anything for their tickets? I thought they sold out most games...

[Asher]

Originally posted by snoopy369
With any reasonable effort I expect that the 10-year target for revenue for the 'Hawks would be around $900k to $1m in 2008 dollars...

On the flip side, how is DET only $1m in revenue/game? Do they not charge anything for their tickets? I thought they sold out most games...

The Joe doesn't seat too many, and Detroit (the city) sucks.

I was there last year in the playoffs and it wasn't even a sellout...

[snoopy369]

Well, when you go to the playoffs twenty straight years, it gets boring... the Braves learned that lesson well, unfortunately (MLB).

[Asher]

Detroit (the city) is also doing very poorly financially. I saw that first hand last year.

Maybe it's just a cultural thing but most of the people who went to the game in Detroit didn't seem like they had a lot going for them, financially...

When times are hard, like they are in Detroit, people stop going to games (which are overpriced, IMO, in Detroit).

[Imran Siddiqui]

New Jersey moved up a great deal with their move in Newark.

[Kontiki]

It's just sad that Montreal and Toronto, already the best hockey markets, increased their revenue by almost as much as Phoenix took in for total revenues. Kill off the Coyotes already, or at least move them. Granted, they'd probably sell first, but how poetic would it be for a team that Gretzky co-owns and coaches to move to Hamilton, practically next door to his hometown?