Recent Valuations Confirm NHL's Rapid Growth

With the NHL taking in more revenue than ever, the valuations of their franchises continue to rise.

Nov 20, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander (88) is tripped by Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (7) during the third period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images / John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

The National Hockey League is currently in one of their most successful periods ever. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHL lagged behind the other major sports organizations, but now it's clear that the league has taken serious strides.

In a recent report from Mike Ozanian of CNBC, the NHL franchises received a staggering valuation, with the average franchise being worth $1.92 billion. 11 franchises were valued at $2 billion or more, with the Toronto Maple Leafs holding the most value.

Couple this report from CNBC with another recent NHL valuation from Sportico, and the global reach of the league and its franchises is growing at an impressive rate. Breakaway On SI reached out to Ozanian regarding his research, and he was able to share some more about what these latest findings mean for the NHL.

One of the areas that the league has seen a boom in is in merchandising. The NHL recently announced a new merchandising partnership with Fanatics, and Ozanian believes that could lead to even more growth in that area.

"Yes," he said. "Because Fanatics has great scalability and proven track record."

Another aspect that can't be ignored is the huge growth in broadcasting and media. Between their new partnerships with Amazon bringing weekly coverage of the league or their documentary series Faceoff: Inside the NHL and a slew of new broadcast deals, the NHL is in front of more eyes than ever and organizations are maximizing profit because of it. An upcoming Canadian broadcasting deal is set to be renegotiated before 2026, which should create even more television revenue for the league.

The Montreal Canadiens are a great example of this, as Ozanian points out. The Canadiens made the most amount of local television revenue among all NHL teams last year and it's a staggering amount.

"They raked in the most local TV revenue in the league last year," he said. "$65 million."

One of the most intriguing parts of this report was the inclusion of debt relative to the team's overall worth. Generally, each franchise had a low debt to value ratio, something Ozanian said is an encouraging sign.

“NHL teams have very low debt/value ratios," he stated. "Which is one indication of financial strength.”

And the outlook remains even brighter for the NHL. Ozanian gave four organizations, the Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks, and Vegas Golden Knights, valuations bordering on the $2 billion mark. Given that the Lightning just sold to new ownership for nearly that amount this year ($1.8 billion), it's entirely possible one or more of these teams surpass that valuation mark in 2025.

"That will depend on the price/revenue multiples of next team sales prices," he said. "But it's possible."

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