While the Montreal Canadiens’ valuation is up 33% year-over-year, the value of all National Hockey League teams has appreciated significantly over the past year, a situation explained by the the still growing appeal of this asset class among investors.
The average valuation of an NHL team – including real estate and various franchise-related activities – is up 29% year-on-year, according to specialist media Sportico, which published its annual financial rankings on Wednesday of the 32 teams on the Bettman circuit.
With a value of 2.27 billion US dollars, the Canadian once again comes this year in third place in the ranking established by Sportico. The value of CH has thus appreciated by a third compared to its value of US 1.7 billion calculated by Sportico last year.
The first two steps of the podium still belong to the Toronto Maple Leafs, with a value of US 2.65 billion (up 25% year-on-year), and the New York Rangers, who are valued at US 2.45 billion (22% compared to 2022).
“The increase in valuations is partly due to increased interest in all teams from the major North American sports leagues,” says Kurt Badenhausen, sports valuation specialist at Sportico, in an interview.
“For the NHL, part of it has to do with the fact that the ratings are a little bit of a catch-up compared to the NFL and the NBA,” he says.
Particularly because of the scarcity effect, he says investors are realizing that having a “seat at the table” is very valuable when it comes to one of these leagues.
“Collective agreements have certainly become more owner-friendly and a premium is being applied to sporting assets, primarily due to the advantageous broadcast rights, but also due to opportunities in the respective local markets with the amphitheaters underpinning the model. business. »
Sportico, however, gives a value of 2.27 billion to CH in its ranking published on Wednesday. Kurt Badenhausen explains that the gap between the two values comes from the fact that the sale of Michael Andlauer’s stake in CH is a minority stake. “It’s not clear that the club would sell for US$2.5 billion if control of the franchise changed hands,” he says.
This is why he adds that the price won for the control of teams like Ottawa, Pittsburgh and Nashville in recent years is a better indicator for establishing the real value of a franchise.
To calculate the value of franchises, Sportico uses a revenue multiple which varies depending on the market in which a team operates. In terms of turnover, Sportico estimates that CH saw its revenues rise to US$300 million compared to US$257 million a year ago. Only Toronto – with US$327 million in revenue – generated more revenue than CH in the NHL over the past year, according to Sportico.
The Montreal organization’s revenues for the last year are described as “more normal” by Kurt Badenhausen. He points out that the previous year’s revenues were still affected by pandemic restrictions. “There were more events and concerts in 2022-2023 than in 2021-2022. Non-NHL revenues are therefore increasing for a team like the Canadiens,” he says.
Through evenko and L’Équipe Spectra, Groupe CH – which also owns the Canadian Hockey Club, the Laval Rocket and the Bell Center – promotes and presents shows and festivals.
That’s more than three times the US$650 million the Seattle Kraken paid to enter the league for the 2021-22 season.
At $675 million, Arizona remains the lowest value team in the league.
To establish its ranking, Sportico says it takes into account the income of organizations by relying on public information and available financial data, in addition to having carried out around thirty interviews over the last four weeks with bankers and lawyers called to work on transactions involving NHL teams.
