There was a time in my life I realized that I would never be a professional athlete. As a result, I turned my interests towards other money endeavors, such as business. However, I am still holding onto that dream of being a reality television star. If any casting executives are New Jersey Devils’ fans, and are reading this article hit me up. I’ll have my people call your people.
From the business side of things, I’ve always found the financials of the NHL and their teams interesting. That’s why I pay more than a passing glance at the Forbes NHL team evaluations. Here’s what that all means, and where the New Jersey devils fit into it.
Non-Devils’ Related Takeaways
Newsflash, the league lost money last year. Only seven teams didn’t see their team value drop. No team saw their value increase, even the Tampa Bay Lightning. Fifteen of the league’s teams lost money and operating revenue.
Forbes also listed two interesting statistics. First, is that teams usually make around $20-million during a successful Stanley Cup run from home stadium revenue. Secondly, 70% of a team’s revenue comes from in-arena revenue streams such as tickets, sponsorships, and concessions.
Players also received slightly more than the 50/50 split as negotiated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Revenue sharing payments were also lower than normal. There’s some confusing financial explanations behind this, so it’s probably better we don’t go into depth explaining it.
Where Do the New Jersey Devils Fit In?
The New Jersey Devils show up right in the middle of this list at number 15. Their value decreased 4% to $530-million. The Devils also had an operating income of $4.1 million.
How were the Devils able to make money? In a season where Forbes estimates only 85% of the regular season was played under normal economic conditions, the Devils have a very important tool to help them. That tool of course is the Prudential Center itself.
The Devils are the main operators of the Prudential Center, so the team earns revenue on non-Devils’ related uses as well. So, technically, the team made money off that 85% of games, plus concerts and other uses. Of course, this is all determined without an in-depth look at Harris Blitzer’s financials. There might be other factors at play.
The Devils are in between the other two Metropolitan area teams. The New York Rangers were number one, worth $1.65 billion with no change in value. The New York Islanders came in at number 16, right behind the Devils. The team of fish sticks and Dennis Potvin is worth $250 million, yet they lost $37.9 million. When the team finally gets its own arena their finances will improve.
What About Part Ownership?
One interesting takeaway from the Forbes article was a suggestion on how some teams might earn extra revenue. According to Montreal Investment Banker Drew Dorweiller, some teams may start selling minority ownership to get extra revenue. No specific teams where speculated to do so.
Would Harris and Blitzer ever sell minority ownership? An immediate guess is probably not. Harris and Blitzer have been very involved in adding new sports properties to their company HBSE.
Remember last year they bought a small part of the Pittsburgh Steelers and considered buying the New York Mets. Selling part of the Devils seems like the opposite of what they’ve been doing.