How did teams make money in the 70’s

[nickdeans55]

How did teams make money back in the 70’s and 80’s? I read somehwere that merchandise wasn’t sold until the 90’s or so.

Was it just ticket sales and concessions?

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[reckoning]

Some teams weren't making money. The usual line from Ziegler was that a third of the franchises were making money, a third were breaking even, and a third were losing. Atlanta and Kansas City had to relocate. Cleveland folded.

There were other revenue streams. TV deals were still important. Not as lucrative as today, but Montreal and Toronto didn't have to share HNIC $$ with anybody before expansion.

And of course the big reason: salaries were much lower.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

It's wild to me that NHL owners business management skills are so far behind the curve when compared to other pro sports owners. What reason was there to not sell merchandise at the arena in the 60s, 70s and into the 80s other than myopic owners?

 

[Crosby2010]

You have to remember, tickets were cheap. Hockey was not the rich man's game it is today. Even Harold Ballard didn't charge an arm and a leg at Maple Leaf Gardens. You didn't have to take out a 2nd mortgage for a Leaf ticket back then like today. With the Leafs you have the corporate hacks sitting behind the benches. Not so in Maple Leaf Gardens. Regular fans that loved the game sat back there. Blue collar fans, etc. So tickets weren't as expensive.

 

[buffalowing88]

It's wild to me that NHL owners business management skills are so far behind the curve when compared to other pro sports owners. What reason was there to not sell merchandise at the arena in the 60s, 70s and into the 80s other than myopic owners?

To be fair, I don't believe that memorabilia was a huge deal for any professional NA sports prior to the late 80s. Hats, jerseys, other apparel, and all that stuff was pretty limited for teams and you just didn't see anyone over the age of like 14 walking around with a jersey for their favorite player on.

 

[NorthStar4Canes]

50 years ago, by the mid-70s there were also 32 pro hockey teams (NHL + WHA) and almost none of them were making money, yet salaries were beginning to rise. It was unsustainable and the next 5 years were chaos by today's standards.

buffalowing88 is correct; adults didn't shell out a bunch of money to walk around wearing team or player merchandise themselves and if the kids wanted stuff, well, that's what hockey cards were for.

Even in the mid-80s it existed but wasn't that common. Not until the 90s, it seems.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Star Wars completely changed the memorabilia game in 1977. The franchise made an absurd amount of money from toys, t shirts, and every trinket imaginable. It was a complete paradigm shift in marketing products.

You start to see a bit of it in sports in the early 80s. WWF and Hulk Hogan presented a new level of marketing sports (esque) to kids. Hasbro intertwined cartoons and toys. Jordan's Nike deal took it to a new level. It was all boosted in the late 80s/early 90s by hip hop stars wearing sports jerseys.

I don't think the NHL was super behind the times in 1977 in terms of merchandise sales. It was just a different marketing world.

 

[The Panther]

My junior high teacher in 1990 wore her Bruins' jersey to the Cup Finals in Edmonton (and was booed by the locals). Don Cherry signed her jersey that game, which she proudly showed us the next school day.

 

[NorthStar4Canes]

Star Wars completely changed the memorabilia game in 1977. The franchise made an absurd amount of money from toys, t shirts, and every trinket imaginable. It was a complete paradigm shift in marketing products.

You start to see a bit of it in sports in the early 80s. WWF and Hulk Hogan presented a new level of marketing sports (esque) to kids. Hasbro intertwined cartoons and toys. Jordan's Nike deal took it to a new level. It was all boosted in the late 80s/early 90s by hip hop stars wearing sports jerseys.

I don't think the NHL was super behind the times in 1977 in terms of merchandise sales. It was just a different marketing world.

An "early adopter" was the guy in Ferris Beuller's Day Off wearing a Wings Howe jersey.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Yes, it would be quite weird for an adult in the 1960s to look on today and see 60 year old men wearing Auston Matthews jerseys at the game.

 

[Doctor Coffin]

And of course the big reason: salaries were much lower.

I think this bears reiterating. And teams whose ownership owned the buildings that their teams played in had an especially advantageous situation, even if said teams were not particularly successful. During the declining years of Blackhawks of the mid-1970s, writer Bob Verdi still was referring to the Chicago Stadium as the "Madison Street Mint."

 

[Crosstraffic]

Star Wars completely changed the memorabilia game in 1977. The franchise made an absurd amount of money from toys, t shirts, and every trinket imaginable. It was a complete paradigm shift in marketing products.

You start to see a bit of it in sports in the early 80s. WWF and Hulk Hogan presented a new level of marketing sports (esque) to kids. Hasbro intertwined cartoons and toys. Jordan's Nike deal took it to a new level. It was all boosted in the late 80s/early 90s by hip hop stars wearing sports jerseys.

I don't think the NHL was super behind the times in 1977 in terms of merchandise sales. It was just a different marketing world.

I checked the Sears, JC Penney and Wards holiday catalogs from 1978, all of them had about 6-8 pages of NFL merchandise for youths, but no MLB, NBA or NHL merchandise. Growing up I don't recall any of the major merchandise catalogs having any NHL stuff.

 

[alko]

How much did you paid for beer, tacos, hot dog in 70s on ice rinks?

 

[Doctor Coffin]

How much did you paid for beer, tacos, hot dog in 70s on ice rinks?

That is an interesting subject. Prices in the 1970s in North America rose markedly with inflation. A 1978 Detroit newspaper article referenced these increases in prices for certain concession items at Red Wings games at the Olympia:

A bag of peanuts - from $0.35 to $0.50
Popcorn - from $0.45 to $0.50
Ice cream - from $0.35 to $0.50
Potato chips - from $0.35 to $0.50
Caramel corn - from $0.35 to $0.50
Beer - $1.15 (volume unknown)
Hot dogs - $0.75 each
Knackwurst sausage roll - $1.00 each


Another survey conducted by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in May, 1976 across the four major sports leagues in the U.S. at the time (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA) unsurprisingly revealed that Madison Square Garden had the highest parking costs at $5.50 per vehicle (but, the article qualified, "almost no one drives to a Knicks basketball game or a Rangers hockey game"), the Montreal Canadiens along with the NFL's New Orleans Saints came in second at $4 ($1 USD = approximately $1.02 CAD at the time), parking was $3 at Chicago Blackhawks' games and "usually less than $2" elsewhere. The Detroit Red Wings' sold hot dogs at $0.75, the highest among all of the leagues, while the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Tigers charged the least for soft drinks at $0.30 per. The Leafs and the Atlanta Flames and Hawks basketball team had the least expensive hot dogs at $0.35 each. I was mildly surprised to read that beer was unavailable at Toronto Maple Leafs' games (!) in May, 1976.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Stagflation too... Economy not growing plus inflation. Really hit people hard.

 

[Crosstraffic]

I was mildly surprised to read that beer was unavailable at Toronto Maple Leafs' games (!) in May, 1976.

MLG was the last dry building, first beer served Jan 30, 1993!

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/when-it-was-impossible-to-buy-beer-at-a-leafs-game-1.5264111#:~:text=The%20first%20beer%20at%20a,30%2C%201993.

 

[Doctor Coffin]

MLG was the last dry building, first beer served Jan 30, 1993!

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/when-it-was-impossible-to-buy-beer-at-a-leafs-game-1.5264111#:~:text=The%20first%20beer%20at%20a,30%2C%201993.

Thank you, I never realized that MLG was dry until such a late date. I read that beer was first served in the Montreal Forum in February, 1969.

 

[VanIslander]

The Canucks were literally GIVING tickets away. I didn't pay a red cent for a Canucks game at Pacific Coliseum until junior high (the 1982 Cup run).

 

[MadLuke]

Yes, it would be quite weird for an adult in the 1960s to look on today and see 60 year old men wearing Auston Matthews jerseys at the game.

Does anyone want an hockey baseball cap or a T-shirt ?