* Before getting into the article, if you live in or have family in or around Maryland, thoughts and prayers for anyone dealing with the current Key Bridge situation.
There are definitely some sour stomachs after last night’s overtime loss. In the midst of tough times, Grand Rapids has had success that started around the new year and Detroit posted a video with some interviews (above). There are good things happening in the organization, take a minute and see how the west side is doing (if you haven’t already).
Fair warning - stop reading now if you don’t want to hear about league finances/escrow talk. A very promising headline was released but the caveats are piling up.
The Daily Faceoff released a bit of oddly timed news. You can read the link for yourself, but essentially it was noted that “projected revenues of 6.2B” would see a 50% Escrow refund on player salaries. Most of you who’ve been around remember the Memorandum of Understanding after the league shut down during the pandemic. Essentially, players would lock in 3 years at 20% escrow then 3 years at 6% escrow.
There are two things that feel off about this release. First, the playoffs play a very big part in HRR. If you read through you’ll find the statement addressing that. From the article, here’s the caveat:
“That $6.2 billion projection is, of course, dependent on playoff returns and revenue, which can be boosted or diminished by the markets involved in the 16-team Stanley Cup playoffs. Players watching the playoffs from home this spring should be rooting for big market teams with high ticket prices and large corporate partners. Because additional revenue, potentially sparked by deep playoff runs in New York, Toronto, Edmonton or Boston, could result in more money returned to players”
The other issue that bothered me was, simply put, there have been fairly significant financial issues. Winnipeg had some press early on as pricing had to be adjusted for the 1.38 Canadian dollar to 1 US Dollar. You all know players are paid in U S Dollars, so a near 40% discrepancy early in the season would force Canadian teams to adjust to some degree.
As of today’s estimates the Canadian dollar is at about 1.358 to 1 dollar USD. That issue hasn’t changed. So you now have an article picking the best teams to make higher returns. This may also factor in to why Detroit and others are getting the jersey ad deals. I’m not going to dwell on it, but the Bally issue and ESPN financials aren’t going anywhere. The investor/shareholder open forum for ESPN’s parent company is on April 3rd. In February they reiterated that ESPN will be fully DTC by 2025.
I will leave it to you to figure out why this was published pre playoffs and right before the fate of Bally and ESPN are covered. You can DM me for more info, there are some of you who don’t like that coverage, some do, if I get enough response I’ll do one more break down.
Hours after PHR released a link to the above article, An article popped up saying that “ECHL Newfoundland, Trois-Rivières May Not Finish Season”. From that article:
“The ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers and Trois-Rivières Lions are at risk of folding before the 2023-24 regular season draws to a close, per a report from Matthew Vachon and Paule Vermot-Desroches of Le Nouvelliste. The clubs, which are the second-tier affiliates of the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens, respectively, are majority-owned by Deacon Sports and Entertainment, which is nearing bankruptcy and owes the city of Trois-Rivière more than $600K.
According to Vachon and Vermot-Desroches, the ECHL has set a deadline for DSE to sell the clubs by April 2. However, the sale of both franchises is unexpected to happen in time. The ECHL’s board of governors, led by commissioner Ryan Crelin, will meet Tuesday to decide whether to allow them to play out the season. Regardless, the league will absorb ownership of the two franchises after the April 2 deadline”
The ECHL is 2 tiers down, but still has an impact on NHL teams. We’ve lived through the league taking over teams in the NHL and that definitely would affect revenues if new owners can’t be found.
It feels like the revenue announcements are “consumer confidence” related. The playoffs have a different distribution metric and final HRR won’t be known until they are completed. I thought it was worth mentioning and contrasting. Headlines get sent my way and there are fans that pretty much only read headlines. I have to send back the quotes and voila. Let me know your thoughts either in the comments or send me a DM.
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