Question about Forbes NHL Valuations 2024

[MessierThanThou]

Forbes recently released the valuations of all 32 NHL franchises, and what surprised me most is that the Stanley Cup Champion, Florida, which has had a competitive team for several seasons now, and Carolina, which has also had a competitive team for a while, and a Stanley Cup, are both near the bottom of the league in valuations!

Is there a reason other than these are markets where hockey is unpopular and viewed as a lesser/minor-league attraction, like the CFL in Canada (except Regina)?

The NHL’s Most Valuable Teams 2024

Explore the ranking of hockey's 32 franchises. The Toronto Maple Leafs edge the New York Rangers for No. 1, but every team is worth much more than a year ago.

www.forbes.com

Click to read more...

 

[LPHabsFan]

The teams are not in Top 10 markets, and even then, their ratings, and therefore TV deals, are most likely minimal. They don't make a lot of money, and more often than not, are losing money, unless they make a deep playoff run. Even then, a lot of the "value" of the team also includes revenue gained from owning the arena and non hockey events. Carolina I'm pretty sure doesn't own their arena (the city does I think or some commission) and even then, not sure how many big acts are coming there. Pretty sure Viola has openly stated that he uses the Panthers as a loss leader for his other businesses as well which I'm guessing includes non hockey events.

From a purely financial point of view, they don't really do much for the bottom line of the NHL. Even their valuations have more to do with the general sports teams valuations insanity/bubble that we're in right now rather than the financials of the team.

This is why it's hard to look at these valuations. Every team operates wildly different and we will never know the true financials, even when a team is "sold".