Quote:
Originally Posted by kunkstyle
I'm not saying that Winnipeg is a sure fire successful market. The dollar can drop again, the collective bargaining agreement can change, economies change. But if the NHL goes to Winnipeg again and fails again, it likely won't be for the same reasons it failed 15 years ago.
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When they left the last time, there were grumblings tickets were too expensive. Well, they've gone up around the league 35-40% in that time. Don't know if the mean wage has gone up the same there.
Winnipeg's arena has 30% less seats than Calgary's, so in a simple economics, to make them as profitable as the Flames, the average ticket price has to be 30% more than here. Ok, so the new team doesn't spend to the cap, but spends 20% less then the Flames, tickets still have to be 10% higher (don't for get Manitoba sales tax on top) to bring in the same revenue/profit as the Flames do.
And thats assuming your expenses are the same, and that you can sell the rink board ads and the TV rights, and the luxury boxes, at the same going rate that Calgary sells theirs for. Luxury boxes would be the big one, at $150K+ per year, per box, or so. Ontop of that, the Flames aren't exactly printing money these days either.
If all those revenue and expense criteria aren't met, the deep pocketed owner is going to be bankrolling fairly large losses losses...that starts to wear on a guy, especially if there's a prime S. Ontario market still available in a couple years, with a brand new arena waiting.