Forbes: Flyers NHL's 8th-most valuable team

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It’s been all gloom and doom for NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the league office since the lockout began on Sept. 16.
 
While the Commish continues to paint a bleak overall picture of the state of the game, Forbes, in its annual NHL valuations survey ranked the Toronto Maple Leafs as being worth $1 billion.
 
That’s right, the Maple Leafs are hockey’s first billion-dollar enterprise.
 
The Leafs are owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the NBA Raptors and the lucrative Air Canada Centre.
 
Forbes listed the Flyers as the eighth-most valuable franchise, worth $336 million. The magazine said the Flyers, owned by Comcast-Spectacor, took in $124 million in revenues last year.

Flyers president Peter Luukko had no comment on the survey.
 
As bad as Bettman says the league’s finances are, Forbes said the average NHL club value is $282 million, which is 18 percent higher than a year ago.
 
It also says the league did $3.4 billion in revenues last season and not $3.3 billion.
 
Here are your top 10 NHL franchises:
 
Toronto ($1 billion); Rangers ($750 million); Montreal ($575 million); Chicago ($350 million); Boston ($348 million); Detroit ($346 million); Vancouver ($342m); Flyers ($336 million); Pittsburgh ($288 million); and Los Angeles ($276 million).
 
Forbes estimates that the three most valuable teams – Maple Leafs, Rangers and Canadiens – accounted for 84 percent of the NHL’s income, while 13 of 30 clubs lost money.

Given the overall wealth of the top eight NHL franchises, you can make a pretty convincing argument for more revenue sharing by the richer club toward the lesser franchises.

That has been the crux of the NHLPA's argument for at least $250-300 million in revenue sharing from the start. At present, the league is offering $230 million to the pot for the next CBA.
 
Looking at the dregs, Forbes ranked the five least valuable franchises as: Carolina ($162 million); Islanders ($155 million);  Columbus ($145 million); Phoenix ($134 million); and St. Louis ($130 million).
 
With the Islanders moving to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in a few years, look for its franchise value to rise accordingly.
 
Vancouver and Chicago have seen their franchise value rise since 2010 as both surpassed the Flyers. The Flyers' value has grown but not as fast. Two years ago, the Flyers were worth $301 million.

E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net