From potential NHL expansion to a return to the Olympics, The TSN Hockey Insiders join That's Hockey host Gino Reda to share what was discussed among the league executives at the NHL Board of Governors meeting in Seattle.
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Cap estimate next year given at BoG is approx $87.675M per Elliotte Friedman.
via Sportsnet,
The salary cap currently sits at $83.5 million for the 2023-24 season after a $1 million rise from 2022-23. The cap remained flat at $81.5 million for the three seasons before that.
During the 2019-20 season, when the season was paused because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the league incurred approximately $1.5 billion in escrow debt. With the debt expected to be paid off by next year, the cap will be able to increase more significantly.
The biggest single-season jump the cap has ever made is $4.5 million.
"The state of the league is very strong," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman at the Board of Governors meeting back in October. "The game is in great shape. Our franchises have never been better owned or stronger... Things are good. Vital signs are good. Revenues are growing. Everybody thinks the game is in great shape.
from Eric Engels of Sportsnet,
This is the home of the NHLs youngest franchise, the perfect setting for the leagues biggest power brokers to be meeting about the birth of new teams and the financial windfall further growth would provide them.
And yet, expansion wasnt a formal topic on the agenda of Mondays Board of Governors meeting.
What was discussed was artificial intelligence and its potential impact on the NHLs businessfrom content generation to digital ticket optimization to game presentation. A presentation from the leagues apparel partner, Fanatics, was also given, and NHL financials and future salary cap projections were discussed.
Commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly will only be made available for comment after Tuesdays meeting, but its anticipated theyll confirm then that the players debt to the owners from the losses incurred during the pandemic has now been fully paid off, thus eliminating escrow and allowing for the cap to rise by five per centfrom $83.5 million to $87.7 million for the 2024-25 season.
Again, expansion wasnt a front burner, but there are over two billion reasons it will become a more dominant topic in the near future, with Bettman confirming at the October BoG meetings the NHL continues to receive interest from prospective buyers in (and not necessarily limited to) Houston, Atlanta, Salt Lake City and Quebec City. The Stanley Cup-winning Vegas Golden Knights entered the league for $500 million in 2017, the Seattle Kraken joined two years ago for $650 million, and the next two teams joining could be doing so for over a billion dollars each to be distributed amongst NHL owners.
continued
I actually feel physical fear whenever I see the BoG are meeting. What hairbrained scheme will they come up with this time to screw up the game?
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