NHL Team Values or Why Bettman is Still Employed

If you wonder why Gary Bettman still has a job despite the fact that you can't watch your favorite hockey team play more than once or twice a year, wonder no more. The folks at Forbes have answered that mystery once and for all in their annual look at the value of NHL franchises. In the two years since the lockout, the value of the average franchise has increased 23% and the league has gone from an operating loss of $96 million to an operating profit of $96 million. The average team is now worth $200 million and posted EBITDA this past season of $3.2 million. It's all attributable to the salary cap achieved in the lockout masterminded by Bettman. The television deal is a disaster but the league can survive until the contract with Versus is over and a new deal with ESPN can be cut, because of the salary cap, so long as teams can continue to sell tickets and put fans in the seats. More than any other sport, the NHL is dependent on ticket revenue and ancillary revenue derived from fans in the building.

So, all that is fun, but what is the most valuable team in the league? In this case, it's not a question of on ice success, because the most valuable franchise has not experienced on ice success in quite some time. No, it's a question of market, tradition, real estate, local TV and operations. The most valuable franchise is the Toronto Maple Leafs, with a value of $413 million, helped in part by league high local TV revenues of $23 million. The Leafs own the Air Canada Centre, Leafs TV, the Toronto Raptors and Raptors TV. Following in number two, with a similar business model, but with far less savvy management (it is Jimmy Dolan) is the New York Rangers at a value of $365 million. It's not clear how much of MSG is included in the valuation of the Rangers, but the business model of MSG and that of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is very similar. The rest of the list in order shows the importance of local TV value to the value of the franchise.