"Time for another by the numbers look at the money fight that is the NHL and NHLPA’s current collective bargaining negotiations.
First of all, you’ll note there’s a decidedly different tone this time around than there was in 2004-05.
Back then, there were cost overruns, endless losses and the Levitt Report.
Now, commissioner Gary Bettman can’t stop trumpeting just how wildly successful the league has been over the last seven seasons.
Revenues have risen from roughly $2.2-billion to $3.3-billion – or an average of about $160-million a season – over the length of the current CBA, pushing the average revenue-per-team figure to $110-million.
Overall, the league is profitable, too.
Take that imaginary average team making $110-million a season. Their player costs would be 57 per cent of that figure, or $62.7-million, and their other, non-player related expenses are likely to be in the neighbourhood of $35- to $40-million, depending on their lease arrangement and various other complicating factors.
What’s left is the profit – which according to these rough estimates here would be between $7- and $12-million per team.
Sounds good, right?
For as many as a dozen teams, it is. On the high end in the NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens are all pulling in more than enough revenue to be very profitable and they don’t lose all that much of it to revenue sharing.
What’s not exactly news is that many teams on the low end struggle, and it’s that vast revenue disparity which is to blame for a lot of the problems the owners are once again making noise about correcting.
That’s why we can have a team like the Philadelphia Flyers sign a free agent defenceman like Shea Weber to an enormous, $110-million deal even as owner Ed Snider is part of talks to eliminate those long-term contracts.
These deals make sense for some teams and not others – just as the system is “working” for some and not others."
More at:
Why NHL teams cry poor despite the league
First of all, you’ll note there’s a decidedly different tone this time around than there was in 2004-05.
Back then, there were cost overruns, endless losses and the Levitt Report.
Now, commissioner Gary Bettman can’t stop trumpeting just how wildly successful the league has been over the last seven seasons.
Revenues have risen from roughly $2.2-billion to $3.3-billion – or an average of about $160-million a season – over the length of the current CBA, pushing the average revenue-per-team figure to $110-million.
Overall, the league is profitable, too.
Take that imaginary average team making $110-million a season. Their player costs would be 57 per cent of that figure, or $62.7-million, and their other, non-player related expenses are likely to be in the neighbourhood of $35- to $40-million, depending on their lease arrangement and various other complicating factors.
What’s left is the profit – which according to these rough estimates here would be between $7- and $12-million per team.
Sounds good, right?
For as many as a dozen teams, it is. On the high end in the NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens are all pulling in more than enough revenue to be very profitable and they don’t lose all that much of it to revenue sharing.
What’s not exactly news is that many teams on the low end struggle, and it’s that vast revenue disparity which is to blame for a lot of the problems the owners are once again making noise about correcting.
That’s why we can have a team like the Philadelphia Flyers sign a free agent defenceman like Shea Weber to an enormous, $110-million deal even as owner Ed Snider is part of talks to eliminate those long-term contracts.
These deals make sense for some teams and not others – just as the system is “working” for some and not others."
More at:
Why NHL teams cry poor despite the league
