Vegas Golden Knights’ Reilly Smith (19) celebrates his goal against the Dallas Stars with Jonathan Marchessault (81) during third-period NHL Western Conference final playoff game action in Edmonton, Alberta, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020.
Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020 | 9:26 a.m.
If you have $570 million burning a hole in your pocket, you can afford to buy the Golden Knights.
That’s the valuation assigned to the team by Forbes magazine, which today released its list of most valuable NHL franchises. The Golden Knights rank 13th of 31 teams, just behind the Dallas Stars and just ahead of the Edmonton Oilers.
The Golden Knights, owned by Bill Foley and the Maloof family, have an operating income of $13.9 million with $156 million in revenue last year.
They lost 2% of their value from 2019, according to Forbes. That’s a trend across the league.
The coronavirus pandemic shortened the 2019-20 regular season by about 10 games for every team, and leaguewide revenue dropped 14% to $4.4 billion.
A projected 2020-21 season with fewer games and fewer fans led to a leaguewide average drop in value of 2%, the magazine said. The average NHL team is worth $653 million, dropping for the first time since 2001.
Forbes estimates packed arenas and all the money that comes with that account for 70% of NHL revenue. Foley said in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun on Tuesday that the team is prepared to play a 2020-21 season without fans, though it will hurt financially.
“It’s going to be really expensive for owners if you don’t have fans,” Foley said. The game plan, he said: “Just suck it up and try to survive.”
The New York Rangers lead the Forbes list, valued at $1.65 billion, followed by the Toronto Maple Leafs at $1.5 billion.
The top of the list is all Original Six teams, with the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins all worth $1 billion or more.
The Arizona Coyotes have the lowest valuation at $285 million, trailing the Florida Panthers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Buffalo Sabres and Winnipeg Jets.
