NHL franchises continue to slide in valuation when compared to big five North American leagues
Franchises across the National Hockey League have grown only slightly in terms of their value over the last 12+ months, but pale in comparison to the four other major North American sports leagues.
Last Fall when Sportico released their annual franchise valuations, only two teams cracked the $2 billion mark - the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers. Meanwhile, the average value of an NHL franchise rose to $1 billion, which is good news, but again, isn't as much as the NFL, MLB, NBA or MLS.
On Tuesday, Sportico released their rankings of all 152 teams across the five major North America sports leagues in terms of their value and it shows that the NHL lags behind the other four by quite a bit.
Only TWO NHL franchise landed in the top-75 with the Toronto Maple Leafs sitting at 66th and valued at $2.12 billion. The New York Rangers are 68th on Sportico's list with the franchise valued at $2.01 billion.
Six other NHL teams rank inside the top-100 - Montreal (79th), Chicago (87th), Boston (88th), Los Angeles (T-89th), Philadelphia (93rd), Edmonton (96th) and Washington (98th).
The lowest team on Sportico's list is the Arizona Coyotes, who come in at 147th and are valued at $465 million. The Coyotes sit ahead of five MLS teams and have 14 other MLS teams ahead of them, separating Arizona from the next lowest NHL franchise, the Florida Panthers.
Sportico's list shows that the NHL has a long way to go to increase the value of their franchises and it leaves many fans blaming the league's leadership, including Commissioner Gary Bettman.
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