Snapshots: Revenue, Playoff Structure, Senators Ownership

Commissioner Gary Bettman’s annual media tour during the first round of the NHL playoffs usually provides fans and media with unique information about the state of the league and its franchises, the kind of information one could only get from an interview with the commissioner, and this year’s tour has been no different. Speaking to reporters during the first intermission of last night’s contest between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning, Bettman issued some updates on a variety of situations around the NHL. One of the more major updates he gave, as relayed by Joe Smith of The Athletic, was regarding the state of the league’s finances. Bettman said that the all-important hockey-related revenue number (the number that is the subject of intense negotiations between the players and owners every time the collective bargaining agreement expires) will be about $150MM lower than his December projection of $5.3 billion.

This shortfall compared to the initial projection can be a result of a variety of factors, but perhaps the most likely has to do with the unanticipated limits to attendance many teams faced this season. It was likely anticipated that teams would not have to go back to reduced-capacity or zero-capacity crowds and that those restrictions were a thing of the past, an assumption that ended up being premature. Multiple Canadian clubs dealt with reduced-attendance mandates, and given that the NHL is a primarily gate-driven league (meaning a higher share of revenues comes from ticket sales than other major North American sports leagues) those restrictions could be responsible for the lower revenue total.

Now, for some other bits of information coming from Bettman’s meeting with the press:

• While there has been discussion here and amongst members of the media about the NHL changing its playoff structure, it seems that there isn’t much appetite from the league for pursuing such a change. When asked about potentially making alterations to the league’s playoff structure, Bettman had the following to say:

People are always thinking: ‘What can we do different to make it better?’ What we have is working really, really well. When you look at the number of games we get in the playoffs, (excitement) in the first round and our competitive balance in the regular season, it’s extraordinary. I’ll put it up against anything else that’s going on in sports.

• After the sudden passing of longtime Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, there has been much conversation about the future of his team and its ownership. When asked about that future, Bettman decided to pump the breaks on any speculation of a quick change in ownership for the Senators. Bettman said, as relayed by Sportsnet’s Luke Fox, that the Senators “aren’t for sale,” and that there have not been discussions on any level about a potential sale of the team. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports that Senators management is currently reporting to the board that Melnyk put in place before his passing, and it was made clear from Bettman’s comments that this arrangement is not one the league sees any real need to immediately change.