Well over on the Mirtle site, which is maybe the best hockey blog out there, came an interesting link from the Toronto Star. About ticket revenue per game for every NHL team. Its one of those well the team sells out every game, so they must be making money and are just cheap. Well for some teams that maybe the case, but for the Sabres, there might be a case for not spending to the cap.
First is Toronto with 1.9 Million per game, thats 77.9 Million in Ticket revenue alone. They can do whatever they want. And the Canadian teams really have some cash. There is no reason why any of them can struggle. Then you have Phoenix on the bottom with 450K a game, or 18.45 Million a game. Thats not good with a league really based on ticket sales. If any team is on the verge of being shipped out its the Coyotes. What is surprising is the Blackhawks almost doubled ticket revenue and are still only at 500k a game. What was Bill Wirtz doing? So what about the Sabres, went up a healthy percent to 750k a game. Which translates to 30.75 a game. Thats 20 million below the cap. Sure they have league revenue, tv deal and other things, but thats a lot to make up that gap, just to cover payroll. Looking at these numbers, it would be smart not to spend willy nilly and lose money to maybe put together a winning club. It takes smarts and planning for a team like Buffalo.
Numbers like these make you take a step back from the sellouts and the merchendise sales and go, well I understand them not spending the big money. They need to raise ticket prices, so they just can stay competitive and with the interest right now, they can get away with it. Its times like these, if the team would open the books and show that, really we can't spend the money because it wouldn't make financial sense, fans would understand. You can be a winner and be smart about it. But they are private and I'm guessing private stuff no one needs to know.
One thing I do know, is that if we want our Sabres to be good, we gotta show up to every game. The attendance of the past will only lead to this team moving up the QEW to Hamilton, where we need a passport to see our team live again. And with the Cap constantly moving up, it will leave the Sabres farther and farther away from that number and closer to the floor number, due to their ticket revenue being low. While the Canadian and big northern markets able to spend what they want, since they are flush with cash.
First is Toronto with 1.9 Million per game, thats 77.9 Million in Ticket revenue alone. They can do whatever they want. And the Canadian teams really have some cash. There is no reason why any of them can struggle. Then you have Phoenix on the bottom with 450K a game, or 18.45 Million a game. Thats not good with a league really based on ticket sales. If any team is on the verge of being shipped out its the Coyotes. What is surprising is the Blackhawks almost doubled ticket revenue and are still only at 500k a game. What was Bill Wirtz doing? So what about the Sabres, went up a healthy percent to 750k a game. Which translates to 30.75 a game. Thats 20 million below the cap. Sure they have league revenue, tv deal and other things, but thats a lot to make up that gap, just to cover payroll. Looking at these numbers, it would be smart not to spend willy nilly and lose money to maybe put together a winning club. It takes smarts and planning for a team like Buffalo.
Numbers like these make you take a step back from the sellouts and the merchendise sales and go, well I understand them not spending the big money. They need to raise ticket prices, so they just can stay competitive and with the interest right now, they can get away with it. Its times like these, if the team would open the books and show that, really we can't spend the money because it wouldn't make financial sense, fans would understand. You can be a winner and be smart about it. But they are private and I'm guessing private stuff no one needs to know.
One thing I do know, is that if we want our Sabres to be good, we gotta show up to every game. The attendance of the past will only lead to this team moving up the QEW to Hamilton, where we need a passport to see our team live again. And with the Cap constantly moving up, it will leave the Sabres farther and farther away from that number and closer to the floor number, due to their ticket revenue being low. While the Canadian and big northern markets able to spend what they want, since they are flush with cash.
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