2006-2007 NHL Revenues Up

According to Tripp Mickle from Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal ($$$), Gary Bettman and the owners have reason to smile (no, they're not letting the Penguins back into the playoffs) - the numbers are in and revenue is up.

NHL regular-season and preseason revenue grew 5 percent to 7 percent this year, putting total revenue on track to grow to between $2.2 billion and $2.25 billion for the entire season.

Such growth would deliver a $100 million to $150 million increase on last year’s revenue of $2.1 billion, which was equal to pre-lockout levels. It also would push the salary cap from $44 million to between $47 million and $49 million this offseason and entitle players to between 55 and 56 percent of revenue in 2007-08.

“The percentage increases were across the board across all lines of our business,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said.

The revenue growth is largely attributable to increased ticket prices. Ticket revenue rose 5.7 percent this season largely due to a 5.9 percent increase in ticket prices. Paid attendance rose only 0.2 percent across the league.

The league was led in ticket revenue growth by Carolina (32.7 percent), Nashville (24.1 percent) and Edmonton (21.8 percent), all of which saw major increases in paid attendance from 2005-06. Carolina’s average paid attendance grew from 13,258 to 15,315, while Nashville’s grew from 12,629 to 13,589.

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Mixed Bag For Bean Counters Near And Far

League-wide, there's good news and there's bad news on the money side of things (at least with regards to turnstiles and TV's). Read about the numbers over at the FanHouse.

Closer to home, it was a mixed bag as well. Attendance was up ever-so-slightly (11 more fans per game, up to 13,916 or 76% of the VC's capacity, according to Sports Business Journal) and paid attendance and revenue were also up.

On the other hand, with more money spent on marketing and personnel (both on-ice and off), the Caps actually lost more money over the course of the 2006-07 season than they did during the previous campaign.

But here's the real bottom line for Caps fans - as Ted Leonsis has said time and again, "the losses are manageable and they are planned."

CapsNation has been told that "Change is Coming" this summer, and has taken that to mean new talent, new uniforms, new marketing strategies - in short, a re-birth of the franchise. One thing that is unlikely to change, however, is that the team will once again lose money. But if most of those losses stay on the ledger and off the ice, no one - from the Owner's box on down - will mind a bit.