[sureLoss]

an interesting study paid for by CHL players wanting to be paid wages. The study is meant to help prove that CHL teams have enough money to pay the players wages.

http://www.tsn.ca/chl-franchises-wor...study-1.522306

According to the study the Hitmen are the most valuable CHL franchise worth close to $70 million.

The Calgary Hitmen are the most valuable franchise in Canadian major junior hockey, according to a study recently filed in an Ontario court as part of a lawsuit against the Canadian Hockey League.

According to a report on franchise economics filed in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto on June 14, the Hitmen are worth $68.95 million, tops among the 42 teams in the Ontario Hockey League and Western Hockey League.
The study — prepared by Kevin Mongeon, an assistant professor of sport management at Brock University — was commissioned by the lawyers for former junior players who say that CHL franchises are raking in millions of dollars from ticket revenue, corporate sponsorships and TV rights fees, and are worth tens of millions of dollars.

The former players have filed a lawsuit alleging major junior teams should be sharing more of their profits with players. The CHL, the umbrella organization that represents the OHL, WHL and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, has argued that it is a development league featuring amateur student athletes. It has also argued that if it’s required to pay damages to the players, some teams may go out of business.

Mongeon wrote in his study that the Ottawa 67’s are the OHL’s most valuable team, worth $55.53 million. He said other valuable teams from the two leagues include the Edmonton Oil Kings ($51.06 million), the Mississauga Steelheads ($44.85 million) and the London Knights ($23.02 million).

Mongeon’s study does not include teams from the QMJHL. Ted Charney, a lawyer representing former junior players who are suing the CHL, hired Mongeon to conduct the study. Another law firm in Quebec is handling the case against the QMJHL and may conduct its own study of franchise values there.

Mongeon wrote that his study was not scientific, and that he relied on assumptions based on the confirmed sale prices of 11 CHL franchises since 1990. The professor created a rate of return model that accounted for a team’s market size.

For instance, the OHL’s Mississauga franchise, Mongeon wrote, sold for $4.56 million (expressed in 2015 dollars) in 2003 and $10.68 million in 2006, resulting in a 138 per cent return on investment.

“Complete and sufficiently publicly available revenue and cost data are rarely available to analyze and estimate franchise values,” Mongeon wrote. “Accounting regulations do not always attribute revenues and costs and can also make valuation estimates based on balance sheets difficult. Many team owners have a background in investment and business ownership suggesting CHL ownership is an investment vehicle.”

Mongeon did not respond to email and phone messages seeking comment.
His study is sure to draw scrutiny after he valued the Knights, a franchise that has repeatedly led the OHL in attendance in recent years and has a virtual monopoly in its market, for so much less than franchises in Ottawa and Mississauga, Ont., where major junior teams compete against NHL clubs for attention and sponsorship dollars.