Do You Believe the NHL is Losing Millions of Dollars a Year?

According to reporter Renaud Lavoie, who let the world know through Twitter, the NHL has lost $240 million over the past two seasons. This of course, comes 11 days before the CBA expires, and the NHL needs all the bargaining power they can find. Of course they’re losing money. That’s why the owners can’t budge on the issues. It all makes sense. Until you look at the numbers. And truthfully, you don’t have to look all that closely.

$240 million over two years breaks down to $120 million a season. The league received $3.3 billion in revenues last year; $1.9 billion of that went towards player costs. If the league had really lost $120 million for that year alone, that puts their remaining costs at $1.52 billion after paying the players. Those other costs constitute everything from coaches to scouts to marketing and other costs associated with putting on hockey games. Nine years ago those other costs totaled $770 million. They’re costly, yes. But how on Earth did the league manage to double them in under a decade?

It just doesn’t make sense.

Either a lot of people in the league just have bad business sense, which while far-fetched , could happen. But even if that is the case, why are the players going to be punished for it with a lockout?

Granted, no one knows what was actually said; or if the NHL ever reported that they had been bleeding out money for the past two years. But if the league is ever ready to make a similar statement in a more official capacity, they better make sure they have something much more substantive to back up their claims.

Categorized in: NHL