5.21.2007

Money Honey

Today my sturdy walls of reality crumbled and I am left alone and uncertain of my own perception and -lets be honest- my own sanity. Punjaboil over at HF found a gem of a link from the globe and mail that was leaked. It shows actual hard financial figures about NHL game profits. And the results? The Edmonton Oilers are one of the richest teams in the NHL. We have the 5th highest ticket prices in the league, and have the 8th highest gate receipts. These are startling facts considering that the Oilers have always been considered the financial underdog. 22 teams make less money on tickets than the Oilers, and this isn’t including concessions etc. Ryan Smyth was not traded because we didn’t have the money, he was traded because we didn’t want to spend the money (which I defend). We as a collective fan base need to raise our expectations of the Oilers ability to financially compete against any team in the NHL, we are one of the top dogs. There could obviously be other factors contributing to some free agents not signing here, but I never want to here money as one of them. Now the financial info from the NHL only shows ticket prices and gate receipts, but the league relies heavily on this income. Television contracts are at a low in many markets, and do not provide a large income directly to teams. Our dollar is higher than its been in decades, and with a recent playoff drive (at a 2.5 mill profit per game for the team) the money is flowing in. The Oilers are rich, and need to spend the money to compete for top flight players.

I never want to here another cash call, money cry from this team again. This city supports them like no other, its time for them to support the city.

But he explains it better than I can. The thread.

5 comments:

Jon G said...

I would go so far as to say the Oilers probably make a killing of the Bell Oilers hockey on Sportsnet. So when you factor that in and their PPV games we probably are one of the top 5 grossing teams out there

Backhand said...

Do you find it weird that ROGERS sportsnet airs BELL oilers hockey? Something fishy there

Anonymous said...

It would be interesting to see what the Oilers pay the city of Edmonton to be here. With Pittsburgh recently shopping itself around and getting offers of new buildings with no rent etc. etc. I know we have one of the best selling jerseys around, but maybe other teams make more on endorsements of one type or another. Looking at our on ice product I can't believe that we are in the top 10 richest teams... maybe Lowe is intentionally making us suck!

Let's not forget that the oilers haven't had a real farm team for a number of seasons so we banked some additional moola there (and got squat from our youth system).

Anonymous said...

you guys are probably right on these fronts. there is one thing we are all overlooking. in canada. business tax is gargantuian compared to the "exact: company in the states. i do belive business tax (on income) in canada is roughly 38%, while in the states, top bracket is still fairly low. 15% (i looked it up). so on $1,000,000 in profit, the oilers are paying $380,000 (canadian) in taxes while any team in the states is only paying $150,000.(us). so the oilers are paying more than double that of their U.S. counterparts. just some food for thought.

Backhand said...

Good point on the taxes. That puts them farther down but I doubt by much. And not having a farm team saves you a bucnh of money.

As for how good the oilers treat edmonton, I can remember reading somewhere about how the city/northlands actually gave the EIG a sweetheart deal when the bought the team. Somewhere burried in the volumes of pages in some Northlands doctorate it says something about how they get most of the concession money and a bunch of other kickbacks.

As long as the Oilers ownership is will to spend like they make, I'll be happy. Then its just up to Lowe to get some bang for his buck (eyes pointing to Horcoff)