Credit: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Worth of the teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) is at its highest thanks to various businesses, however the increasing cost associated with hockey players are limiting the revenues from the sport.

Currently, the worth of an average hockey team is $240 million and this is significantly higher by 5% than last year’s average team value. Popularity of the sport on television increased, with Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic broadcasted by NBC being the most watched regular season game of NHL in almost four decades.  During this time, there is an estimated 4.5 million viewers on primetime. Hockey is popular online as well, as evidenced by the surge in the number of unique monthly visitors of NHL.com and 30 NHL team websites reaching to a record number of 22 million. Following the popularity is increase in revenues from these platforms.

There is also a notable increase in sponsorship deals and sales of NHL merchandise. An example is the deal NHL inked with Tim Hortons Doughnut Shop, selling the naming rights for the 2012 NHL All-Star Game this coming January. There is also the successful four-part HBO 24/7 reality series featuring the Penguins and Capitals. NHL also widened its reach in Europe by sealing broadcasting deals for countries such as Czech, Ireland/United Kingdom, Austria and Germany.

Lower Margins

Margins in the Hockey business are getting tight. For the 2010-2011 season, NHL posted $126 million operating income, and this is prior to taxes, depreciation, interest and amortization were deducted. The posted income is 21% lower than last year’s. The reason for the low profit is the increase in player cost, which is now totaling to $59 million, 11% higher than the previous year. In the last hockey season, out of 30 teams, 18 teams lost money, and this is even prior to asset depreciation and payment of bank loans. Some teams are having a hard time being profitable especially since the salary cap of the league is at 57% of the revenue.

The current NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) will be expiring September 15, 2012. It is already forecasted that labor negotiations for the new CBA is going to be a tough, long and argumentative process. In order for the NHL teams to realize revenue, they have to set a salary cap closer to National Football League’s {NFL) 48% or National Basketball Association’s (NBA) 50%.

Recently, NHL teams that are not earning revenues and are losing money are being sold for less than $200 million. Some of the teams are in such a terrible financial state that there are speculations of these teams filing for bankruptcy.

Profitable Teams in the NHL

Not all of the NHL teams are experiencing hard times. There are a considerable number of teams, mostly teams playing on bigger markets, which are making significant amount of operating profit. The Toronto Maple Leafs is the league’s most valuable team, valued at $521 million and earned close to $82 million last season. Runners up are New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens. New York Rangers are currently valued at $507 million, and it earned $41.4 million. Montreal Canadiens earned $47.7 million, and the team’s worth is $445 million. The combined operation profits of these three teams are bigger than the profits of all of the NHL teams combined.

Kimberly is a researcher, writer, business woman, and contributor at entrepreneurweek.com blog network.  She may be reached at eweekcomauthor@gmail.com.

©2011 entrepreneurweek.com, all rights reserved

Credit: - Pics / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When speaking of entrepreneurship and business, it is not uncommon to use terms
which are familiar to the sporting world. Often, success in business is seen as a “race to
the finish,” and many of us are looking to make “that big score,” as we “level the playing
field.” Sports figures are often seen as heroes in society, and kids look up to them,
celebrate their wins, are saddened by their losses, and hope to be just like then when
they grow up.

As ‘Business Week’ points out, while the life of an athlete is highly celebrated, those
years are often short lived. Baseballs stars, football players, hockey team members and
other sports figures usually retire by the age of thirty to thirty-five, and sometimes even
earlier. But what are these stars doing after retiring from sports? Many of them are
becoming entrepreneurs. Here are a few of them, and how they continued to make an
impact outside of the sporting world.

From Boxing to Grill Master

Perhaps one of the first names which come to mind when one thinks of athletes-turned-
entrepreneur is George Foreman. Foreman has become such a hit with his George
Foreman Grill that for many, this is what they think of when they hear his name, not
boxing. But Foreman was a boxer first, who managed to build a business from a grill
which was designed to drain the fat from meats as they cook. His George Foreman
Grill become so successful, in fact, that he sold the marketing rights back in 1999 for a
cool one hundred and thirty-seven million dollars. He has gone on to create a clothing
line known as the ‘George Foreman Signature Collection’, as well as a line of cleaning
products which he calls ‘George Foreman’s Knock Out’. He is one athlete who has
actually earned more as an entrepreneur than he did as a sports figure.

Soul Surfing Entrepreneur

Most Americans have heard the story of Bethany Hamilton, the surfer who lost her left
arm in a shark attack when she was just thirteen. Many know how Bethany came back to
be one of the top ten female surfers on the planet. Her fierce determination and desire
to overcome was made into a movie entitled ‘Soul Surfer’ which has inspired people
of all ages. What many may not know, however, is that Bethany has also designed her
very own line of perfume and beauty products that is geared for teens. In 2005, just
two years after her attack, fifteen year old Bethany created ‘Stoked and Wired to Live’,
which teamed up with ‘Revelations Perfume and Cosmetics’. Her company has made
over seven million dollars at retail, ten percent of which Bethany donates to ‘World
Vision’, an organization that helps poor children.

Turning Hyperactivity and Perfectionism into an Empire

When Tony Hawk was a child, he was described as being “hyperactive.” According
to ‘Wikipedia’, Hawk’s mother states that he was very hard on himself, and expected
a lot from himself. His self-scrutiny became so strong that his parents had him
psychologically evaluated to see what may be causing the “issues.” Instead of being
diagnosed with a mental or emotional condition, Hawk was said to be “gifted” and his
parents were advised to place him in advanced classes.

When Hawk was just nine years old his older brother passed on his skateboard to
him. It was a blue fiberglass board, which had several chips and dents from years of
playing. When young Tony Hawk first rolled his brother’s hand-me-down board down
the driveway, he did not even know how to turn around. But for a child who was
hyperactive, and a perfectionist, it did not take long to learn not only to turn, but to
become the most well-known skateboarder of all time. Hawk was a pro-skateboarder
by the age of fourteen, and considered to be the best in the world by the time he was
sixteen. But in 1991, the world of skateboarding suddenly died, and Hawk was left with
very little income, sometimes living on five dollars worth of food from Taco Bell each
day.

As you can guess, Hawk did not stay down for long. In 1992, he and pro-skater Per
Welinder teamed up to create their own skateboarding brand known as ‘Birdhouse
Skateboards’. Hawk took a second mortgage out on his home to get the business off the
ground, which was a huge risk for an entrepreneur to take. The risk soon paid off, and
Birdhouse became one of the largest and best known skate companies on the globe.
Hawk also owns ‘Tony Hawk Inc.’ which features a video production company as well
as an events company. He also has a charity organization known as the ‘Tony Hawk
Foundation’. His largest income, however, has come from his series of video games
produced by ‘Activision’ which have brought in over a billion dollars in worldwide retail
sales.

Other Sports Entrepreneurs

Oscar De La Hoya, Baron Davis, Dave Bing, Brian Bannister, Magic Johnson, and Venus
Williams are also sports figures who turned business owners. There are many more
athletes which have gone on to become entrepreneurs, often making more money in
their entrepreneurial pursuits than they ever did in sports. That knowledge could lead
some to rethink their dreams of becoming athletes and instead lead them to become entrepreneurs,
while others may choose to go both ways.

Angela Kaye Mason is an online researcher, writer, and contributor at entrepreneurweek.com blog network. She may be reached at eweekcomauthor@gmail.com. Follow Angela on Twitter. Find her on Facebook .
©2011 entrepreneurweek.com, all rights reserved