the story of the hurricanes is one ive told dozens of times. i learned this while i worked at the palace for the detroit pistons. the whalers were owned by karmonos. hes from detroit. the whalers were about to move to the palace. they would have been the second detroit area NHL team. at the time, in the mid 90s, the red wings could have sold out a 40,000 seat arena. the detroit area had the vipers. an IHL team. minor league. they would fill the palace of auburn hills, which seats 22,000. so detroit was about to get a second team, but illitch stepped in. so they moved to north carolina and became the hurricanes.
The Bottom 10 teams in the NHL according to Forbes are..
1) Columbus- Blue Jackets .... Revenue 2012-2013 - $69m, Blue Jackets actually made a profit of $4.9m
2) Tampa Bay- Lightning .... Revenue 2012-2013 - $72m, Operating Loss of $5.4m
3) St Louis - Blues .... Revenue 2012-2013 - $72m, Operating Loss of $2.5m
4) Carolina - Hurricanes .... Revenue 2012-2013 - $71m, Operating Loss of $3.4m
5) New York - Islanders .... Revenue 2012-2013 - $61m, Operating Loss of $1.2m
6) Phoenix - Coyotes .... Revenue 2012-2013 - $67m, Operating Loss of $8.9m
7) Nashville - Predators .... Revenue 2012-2013 - $71m, Operating Loss of $800k
8) Florida - Panthers .... Revenue 2012-2013 - $69m, Operating Loss of $7.7m
9) Buffalo - Sabres .... Revenue 2012-2013 - $76m, Operating Loss of $1.0m
10) Anaheim - Ducks.... Revenue 2012-2013 - $73m, Operating Loss of $3.9m
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But they still sell out...The average fan can't afford a Rangers ticket, Yet they still sell out.
the red wings technically do sell out. but, mainly because of corporate season tickets. red wings games usually have alot of empty seats. that includes the playoffs.
i remember during the 07 playoffs being able to buy conference finals tickets the day of the games if i wanted. (i worked at ticketmaster at the time)
by the way, the sabres are in top 10 attendance this year.
jimmifli (04-10-2014)
JATMtheJATM (01-10-2014)
Move them to Quebec
Not every owner has said he has no problem losing money on a team to keep fans happy.
he is doing it. he renovated the locker room/club house to keep the team happy. he renovated parts of the arena to keep the fans happy. he spend money on free agents to keep the team and fans happy. hes building a highrise attached to the arena to keep the fans happy.
the team may be bad on the ice, but its not for lack of spending. hes lost money to keep ticket prices down. hes lost money to improve the team and city. hes done his part in that end.
hasnt worked yet with the product on the ice.