What to make of Sportico's NHL franchise values

It's now a billion dollar league. What does that mean?

I guess you can officially call the NHL a billion dollar league.

Sportico released its annual valuation of NHL franchises today, and for the first time all 32 franchises crossed the $1 billion threshold when it came to value.

The Columbus Blue Jackets where the least-valuable franchise at $1.06 billion, which is still a 20 percent increase in value from the 2023 when Columbus at $880 million was one of ten teams value under $1 billion.

The three most valuable franchises remain the ones you’d expect — the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, and Montreal Canadiens — with the Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings jumping over the Chicago Blackhawks to round out the top five.

Here is the full top-10:

From a value proposition, this list is more reflective of the past transactions than indicating the future.

The Utah Hockey Club, for example, was purchased this summer for $1.2 billion, and on this list has a $1.2 billion valuation. The Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik sold his controlling stake of the team within the past week at a $1.8 billion valuation, which is why the Lightning check in at $1.8 billion on this list.

For example, if the Toronto Maple Leafs or New York Rangers were to be up for sale, they would likely go for more than $4 billion at a minimum.

That’s because NHL franchises, and sports franchises in general, are rare assets. There are comps, but as multiple NHL owners have told me before, the true value of a franchise is what someone else will pay for it and not what Sportico or Forbes will say.

Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon once put it this way to me, “there are 32 of these things, those lists are a nice conversation starter, but when you own a rare asset and know you have a market, the price is always going to be higher what those lists will say.”

One of the “winners” already with these valuations is Jimmy Haslam who agreed to buy the Nashville Predators for $880 million in a four-part purchase that fully closes in 2025. Even before that deal is done, Haslam has already gained close to 50 percent in value according to Nashville’s $1.32 billion valuation today.

Similar thing goes for Michael Andlauer who bought the Ottawa Senators for $950 million and now has a $1.14 billion property according to Sportico’s list.

One NHL executive pointed out to me that these rapid rises in valuation are one of the reasons venture capital firms have started to target NHL teams. From a return-on-investment perspective, it’s a good time to buy into NHL futures if you’ve got the massive amount of money to do so.

And for the NHL, this list is a good measuring stick to discuss how much a future NHL expansion fee would cost if the league eventually expands to 33 or 34 teams.

Utah paid $1.2 billion to get into the league, with some patience, it’s highly likely the next NHL expansion fee will cost at least $2 billion as a point of entry. And once that happens, according to another NHL executive, that will effectively move the bar for the entire league to at least $2 billion in valuation.