From packed hockey arenas to small-town rinks, hockey fuels more than national pride. It drives billions into the Canadian economy each year. An economic impact study commissioned by Scotiabank and Canadian Tire estimates that hockey generates over $11 billion in annual economic activity. 1
In this article, we will explore the significance of hockey in Canada as both a beloved sport and a powerful business engine, with a focus on the impact of the National Hockey League (NHL).
📈 NHL Team Valuations and Revenue Streams
First, let's start with the key statistics of the top NHL teams. It's worth noting that the National Hockey League (NHL) includes teams from both Canada and the United States.
📢 Top Valued NHL Teams
As of 2025, the NHL's most valuable franchises include the following:
- Toronto Maple Leafs: Valued at $4.3 billion
- New York Rangers: Valued at $3.8 billion
- Montreal Canadiens: Valued at $3.4 billion
- Los Angeles Kings: Valued at $3.15 billion
- Edmonton Oilers: Valued at $3.10 billion
Important note: You would have noticed that Canadian-based teams dominate the top 5 valuations. That's because hockey is widely considered the national winter sport here, and fan loyalty is powerful - even spanning generations.
Team valuation is the estimated total market value of the franchise, whereas team revenue is the total income a team generates during a season.
💰 Revenue Breakdown by Team
Overall, team revenues vary based on these three main elements:
✅ Market size
- Influences sponsorship opportunities and ticket pricing across arenas
✅ Performance
- Influences merchandise sales and playoff revenues, winning boosts revenues
✅ Fan engagement
- Influences attendance during the entire season, with sold-out tickets during games
In Canada, these elements are also very much dependent on a strong sports history and a provincial fan base tied to hockey.
Let's look at these two case studies of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers, two teams with distinct strengths that drive high financial performance in the NHL.
Toronto Maple Leafs
- Large market size, as Toronto is the largest city in Canada
- Valuation: ~$4.4 billion (highest in NHL)
- Iconic Original Six franchises, a national pride
- Scores high revenue due to higher ticket prices and premium seating, especially in Scotiabank Arena (Toronto)
- Average ticket price: $385 (2024-2025)
Edmonton Oilers
- Smaller market size as Edmonton is a smaller city in Calgary
- Valuation: $3.2 billion (top five)
- Won 5 Stanley Cups in the 80s, a provincial pride
- Sometimes scores higher revenue than Toronto during strong competitive seasons (extra playoffs)
- Average ticket price: $275 (2024-2025)
🎯 Factors Influencing NHL Economics
Now, let's dive deeper into the dynamics of the NHL economics, where the revenue can be massive 2 as they are shaped by multiple factors and streams, as shown in the following example.
Based on data in 2024 (Greater Victoria Sports Tourism Commission)
📺 Media Rights and Broadcasting Deals
First, media rights and broadcasting deals generate significant revenue through agreements between the NHL and television networks and streaming platforms, granting broadcasters the rights to air games.
The viewership of live sports content has been growing steadily, especially with the popularity of hockey in Canada, where sports broadcasters like Roger Communications experienced doubled revenues through signed broadcasting deals. 3
Sports are core to our company, and these rights are the most valuable sports rights in Canada.
Tony Staffieri, CEO of Rogers Communications
When viewership grows across multiple platforms, these revenues increase as well:
- Advertising revenue
- Subscription revenue
- Sub-licensing revenue
The NHL's deal with Rogers Communications has been pivotal in boosting league-wide valuations. Both parties signed a 12-year Canadian national media rights deal worth C$11 billion (about US$7.7 billion), beginning in 2026 and running through the 2037-38 season. This is one of the largest media deals in Canadian sports history. 4
🤝 Sponsorships and Partnerships
Next, we cannot underestimate the power of the NHL's branding to secure consistent sponsorship and partnerships. Examples of revenue generated from this stream include logo patches, arena naming rights, and rink advertisements.
That's why you'll notice name changes of some hockey arenas in Canada for major teams like the following:
- The home arena of the Toronto Maple Leafs was renamed Scotiabank Arena
- 20-year sponsorship deal with Scotiabank, one of Canada's Big Five banks
- The home arena of the Ottawa Senators is now named Canadian Tire Centre
- Long-term sponsorship with Canadian Tire, which includes arena signage and corporate branding
- The home arena of the Montreal Canadiens is the Bell Centre
- Long-term naming rights deal with Bell Canada, a telecommunications company
🏟️ Ticket Sales and Fan Engagement
The backbone of the longevity and popularity of any sport lies in the fans. The fans are the ones who contribute the most economically in terms of ticket purchase, concessions, merchandise, parking, and in-arena experiences.
In the business of hockey, gate receipts (money earned from selling tickets to a game) matter.
High ticket sales, whether through regular and playoff home games, contribute strongly to the revenue of hockey teams.
Ticket demand is high among die-hard fans across the country when their favorite team, whether it's the junior team or the women's team's performance.
Teams with large, dedicated fan base such as the Maple Leafs, despite not winning a Stanley Cup since 1967, lead the league in gate receipts.
Important note: A hockey team with high ticket sales and strong fan engagement helps increase league-wide revenue, which can raise the NHL salary cap for all teams.
While the cap is the same for every team, financially strong teams are often better positioned to spend up to the maximum, sign star players, improve performance, and generate even more fan engagement and revenue.
💲Economics Challenges and Opportunities
The NHL has dynamics that create financial risks (challenges) and growth potential (opportunities), especially for the Canadian economy.
📌 Impact of Market Size
Just as market size can impact ticket sales and sponsorship deals, it can also create challenges for teams based in smaller cities and opportunities for those in larger markets.
Teams based in smaller markets, such as the Edmonton Oilers, face greater economic risks than larger-market teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. This means the Edmonton Oilers would have less room to grow revenue due to:
- Fewer corporate suite buyers
- Smaller regional TV advertising base
- Limited large multinational sponsors
However, these risks can be overcome when a team maintains strong attendance driven by regional loyalty, which contributes to consistent arena sell-outs and increased revenue generated by star players. In the case of the Edmonton Oilers, the team is doing well financially despite its smaller market size due to a strong fanbase and having a star player like Connor McDavid, who is also the captain of the team.
🌍 Expansion and Relocation
In the NHL, expansion and relocation decisions are primarily driven by financial sustainability rather than geographical considerations.
Recent expansion in the NHL involves the Seattle Kraken (2021), while relocation involves the Arizona Coyotes moving to Utah (2024). It's more common among the US teams due to a larger media market in relation to its population.
The most recent relocation involving a Canadian team in NHL history is the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg (becoming the second Winnipeg Jets) in 2011.
Even though Winnipeg is a smaller city than Atlanta, its strong hockey culture, fan engagement, stable ownership and reliable revenue streams made it a safer NHL market.
| Factor | Atlanta Thrashers (Before 2011) | Winnipeg Jets (After 2011) | NHL Economic Implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market Size | Large metro (~5.5M) | Small metro (~700–800K) | Large population doesn't guarantee revenue; reliable attendance matters more |
| Fan Engagement | Low attendance; weak local interest | Immediate season ticket sellouts; strong loyalty | Gate receipts are critical for NHL revenue and salary cap calculations |
| Ownership & Stability | Conflicted, unstable, legal issues | True North: stable, financially committed | Stable ownership reduces risk of financial losses and league instability |
| Corporate / Sponsorship Support | Limited local sponsorships | Strong local and national sponsorship deals | Sponsorship drives revenue and premium seating income |
| Arena / Infrastructure | Adequate, but lease issues | Modernized arena (MTS Centre / Canada Life Centre) | Proper arenas enable reliable ticket revenue and playoff hosting |
| Hockey Culture | Weak, limited grassroots support | Deep-rooted Canadian hockey culture | High merchandise sales, strong TV ratings, and fan engagement |
| Revenue Risk / Stability | Consistent financial losses | Guaranteed revenue streams | NHL prioritizes predictable revenue to stabilize league HRR and salary cap |
| Media / National Exposure | Weak U.S. TV ratings | Strong Canadian national TV ratings | National media revenue supports league-wide salary cap growth |
| Playoff Potential | Low; rarely competitive | High; star players later increase playoff draw | Playoffs significantly boost gate, merchandise, and media revenue |
🌟 Players' Contracts and Salary Cap
Players' contracts can be a financial risk and revenue opportunity in Canada. Under the NHL, every team has the same maximum amount it can spend on players each season. The amount is determined by the Hockey Related Revenue (HRR). As the HRR increases, so does the salary cap.
For example, if a team decides to sign a star player like Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild) with a reported $116 million deal, this means it takes up a significant amount of the total payroll.
In Canada, it would be equivalent to the Edmonton Oilers' decision to sign Connor McDavid, who is one of the biggest players in the NHL now.
If the player performs well, the team benefits financially in the long run through these areas:
- Attract sponsorships
- Increase ticket demand
- Allow teams to charge higher prices
- Boost jersey and merchandise sales
- Increase TV ratings
However, this could also pose a risk if there are any injuries and the star player succumbs to enormous pressure to perform because hockey is a big cultural thing here. When a large amount of money is spent on star players, it also limits the spending flexibility of the salary cap.
Meanwhile, learn more about the training route as a junior hockey player in Canada.
🏒 Future Outlook of the NHL's Business
Having said that, traditional ticket sales, media rights, and sponsorship deals are not enough to sustain growth in an ever-evolving sports landscape, including the NHL. So, what are the key trends to anticipate for the NHL's future?
🌐 Emerging Revenue Streams
First, the NHL will continue to expand its international media agreements and digital offerings. For example, the league signed a global digital rights deal with DAZN for its streaming service (NHL.TV) in around 200 countries as of 2025–26, broadening global reach and revenue. 5
Through various streaming platforms like DAZN and Amazon Prime, subscribers can watch the games from a wide range of mobile devices such as smart TVs, smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles.
Additionally, brand sponsorship deals and advertisements in the NHL would eventually transition completely to digital platforms through cross-platform storytelling and global marketing campaigns to attract younger and global audiences.
A huge part of my passion for the sport comes from being Canadian and growing up watching Hockey Night in Canada on CBC with my parents and siblings.
P. K. Subban, Canadian ice hockey defenceman
💻 Technological Innovations
One of the breakthroughs of digital-sourced revenue in the NHL is through the Digitally Enhanced Dasherboards (DED) on the ice rinks.
Digital ads are more dynamic as they can be catered according to market, language and broadcast region. This allows more brands to buy time or screen space instead of relying on physical ads or stickers.
The NHL has also integrated more technological innovations, such as advanced analytics through artificial intelligence, and social media strategies to boost fan engagement during the game broadcasts.
♻️ Sustainability Initiatives
Finally, sustainability plays a significant role in the future of the NHL, especially in improving operational efficiency, cost savings and strong community engagement.
Some of the initiatives that the NHL has implemented include:
- Launching NHL Green in 2010 to promote sustainability in league operations
- Partnership with SAP in 2022 to build a digital platform (NHL Venue Metrics) that tracks carbon footprint and energy use across arenas 6
- Recycling, energy efficiency, and water conservation programs at The Winnipeg Jets and Canada Life Centre 7
- Hockey Canada's partnership with Karbon-X, a climate solutions company, to reduce event-related emissions 8
We hope this article has offered you some insights into the significance of hockey through the lens of the NHL and the Canadian economy. May this inspire you to appreciate and love the sport even more!
References
- Study: Canadian hockey worth $11B annually - Sportsnet.ca. (n.d.). Www.sportsnet.ca. https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/study-canadian-hockey-worth-11b-annually/
- Kloster, D. (2024, April 10). Hockey Day in Canada generated $4M in economic activity for capital region: commission. Times Colonist; Times Colonist. https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/hockey-day-in-canada-generated-4m-in-economic-activity-for-capital-region-commission-8574415
- NHL and Rogers announce a 12-year Canadian media rights deal through the 2037-38 season. (2025, April 2). AP News. https://apnews.com/article/nhl-tv-canada-rogers-eeb5c822ca0d9069eaa1d80354364e37
- Reuters Staff. (2025, April 2). Rogers Communications secures 12-year media rights with NHL across Canada. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/sports/nhl/rogers-communications-secures-12-year-media-rights-with-nhl-across-canada-2025-04-02/
- NHL Strikes deal with DAZN to distribute NHL.TV to nearly 200 countries - Sports Video Group. (2025, July 30). https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/07/30/nhl-strikes-deal-with-dazn-to-distribute-nhl-tv-to-nearly-200-countries/
- NHL partners with SAP on digital platform to gauge carbon footprint | NHL.com. (2022, October 26). Nhl.com. https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-partners-with-sap-on-digital-platform-to-gauge-carbon-footprint-336791566
- Canada Life Centre. (2025). Green Initiatives. Canadalifecentre.ca. https://www.canadalifecentre.ca/guest-services/green-initiatives/
- Karbon-X partners with Hockey Canada. (2025). Hockeycanada.ca. https://www.hockeycanada.ca/news/karbon-x-joins-as-partner-2025-news
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