Are certain CHL teams very profitable for their owners?

Question

I have to think that given the Quebec Rempart sell more tickets on their best nights than some NHL teams do on a average night, Patrick Roy is making a lot of money. Teams like-St. John's, Halifax, Moncton, London, Lethbridge, etc., are not the owners of these clubs getting a better return on investment than a lot of NHL owners?

Answer 1

All teams in the CHL are very profitable.

First of all, contrary to the previous poster, the CHL is a collective organization that consists of the three Tier 1 Junior A leagues in Canada. They are part of Hockey Canada, and NOT affiliated in any way with the National Hockey League.

As the league consists of players who are 20 and under, and these players are not paid exhorbitant salaries (the average player costs a team $2800/mo). Depending on the team, most teams incur player costs of $60K-$80K a month, and the average gate for a home game is $30K-$40K, with 5-7 home games a month. So, average monthly gate is 150-300K with player costs of $60K-$80K. That leaves quite a bit of profit. On top of that, you do have coaching costs ($50-60K a YEAR), arena leases, etc but the teams are still profitable after all of this. There are some financial perks that teams are awarded as part of a transfer agreement with the NHL as well which helps profitability.

Answer 2

Since most teams are a farm team of the NHL teams they get plenty from them as far as money. The main thing is to develop the players for entry into the NHL.. So, basically if they can sell tickets, merchandise and make a profit from food vendor sales then they are ahead of the game. As far as a better return I would say YES to some degree. The owner(s) of these teams also do not have the large amount of payout like NHL Teams do : Stadium costs, Players Salaries, Advertisment and so on... When a player is injured and he begins a return they usually send them down to these farm teams. Who do you think is paying their salary that they are making?? It is surely not the farm team as they could not afford the million dollar salaries that alot make..Especially if it is a farm team that is in Texas or some other place that hockey is not naturally played there in the winter time like it is in say Canada..
Good question though and I hope this helps you out to understanding the Farm System. Same goes with other sports like Baseball that would have a farm team system..