Boston Bruins Are The Fifth Most Profitable NHL Team

The Boston Bruins were ranked fifth in the Sportico 2022 NHL Franchise Valuations Rankings.

In the annual Sportico rankings that measure NHL and pro sports teams valuations the Bruins were valued at $1.41 billion. According to Sportico, the average NHL franchise worth is $1.01 billion. This is the first time that average has crossed into and is a 9% increase from last year. As a whole, including ownerships’ stakes in real estate, venues, TV networks and team-related holdings, the total value of the league’s 32 clubs, is $32.4 billion.

The Boston Bruins rounded out the Top 5 of the Sportico rankings. The Toronto Maple Leafs ranked first at $2.12 billion, $110 million ahead of the New York Rangers at $2.01 billion; Montreal Canadiens at $1.7 billion and the Chicago Blackhawks at $1.44 billion.

According to Sportico, the top 12 clubs by value all have real estate and/or NHL-related businesses, that bring in an extra average value of more than $200 million by our calculations. The Boston Bruins are highly funded and beneficiaries of  Delaware North, the billion-plus hospitality business that includes hotels, restaurants, casinos, etc. owned by Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and his family.

Like so many pro sports owners and those in the hospitality business, Delaware North and the Jacobs’ took huge financial hits during the pandemic and specifically from March 2020 until mid-spring of 2021 when fans were slowly allowed back into arenas and tourists back in hotels and casinos. However, it hasn’t taken long for NHL teams to make a comeback. According to Sportico, the Boston Bruins had an 8-percent rise in revenue in the 2021-22 season. The Ottawa Senators, who are now up for sale and valued at $655 million, rose 21-percent.

Last month, Boston Bruins CEO and alternate governor Charlie Jacobs touched on the Bruins and the NHL making a comeback over the last year.

“You know it’s funny, as the restrictions were lifted — and I’ll speak specifically to Boston — I feel like there was a bit of a feeling-out period for a lot of our fan base just about whether they were comfortable coming into TD Garden, regardless of what the restrictions were from the city or state,” Jacobs replied when asked on Oct. 10 about the health of his team and the league heading into the 2022-23 regular season. “We have begun to level set, in terms of whether those people that weren’t comfortable have either moved on, sold their tickets, or decided to come back in and find some comfort in attending a game in person. Hockey, unlike most major sports, is really gate-driven, so it’s important for us to get our fans in the building and this will be our first year, I believe, or dare I say… I won’t say back to normal, but this is perhaps the next normal that we will experience here in 2022-23.”