"Nah Bettman is greedy" "Look at what’s happened to college football" - NHL fans debate over $6.8B league being ticket-driven and not TV revenue

On Friday, a report was published showing the NHL's $6.8 billion revenue breakdown as compared to other US-based sports leagues. The infographic divided revenue into five areas, focusing on how ticket sales and broadcasting deals drive league revenue. The NHL earned less than the NFL, NBA, and MLB.

One area that stood out compared to other leagues was the NHL's ticket sales revenue, which accounted for 44% of revenue, far more than any other sports league. For the NBA, it was 26%; for the MLB, it was 31%; and for the NFL, it was 17%, contrasting with the NHL's reliance on ticket sales for revenue.

Similarly, in the case of the NFL and the NBA, national TV and media deals account for the vast majority of revenue, with 66% for the NFL, 26% for the MLB and 41% for the NBA. In the case of the NHL, national TV and media deals account for just 19% of league revenue.

In response to the infographic, fans were quick to weigh in.

"Good. Big TV revenue ends up ruining the sport, just look at what’s happened to college football." - One fan wrote

"Maybe they don’t have the same large TV deals because they can’t attract as many viewers? Nah Bettman is greedy," another added.

Others offered suggestions on how the league can fix its revenue problem to be more on par with other leagues:

"More TNT less ESPN is needed." - One wrote

"NHL's biggest TV problem is the literal inability to even acquire the ability to watch the games you want. Blackouts and region locked things make it impossible, You can't buy anything that will let you watch all games you want or even all of 1 team." - Another added

"It’s still gate driven because trying to watch games on tv is fucking impossible. Put together some decent stream packages for individual teams WITHOUT BLACKOUTS and I guarantee that number skyrockets" - Another wrote

Others took aim at Gary Bettman.

"I will never understand why Bettman still has a job. Why do owners look at NHL revenue compared to other leagues and keep him??? You don't like money? What a joke!" - One wrote

"Gary and the owners “Boys club” is too blame that make all the decisions and have no one else to tell them hey this doesn’t make sense ex. Releasing nfts when the market already crashed, refusing to put nhl players on a national scale like nba did, not having a site cap friendly" - Another added

Closer look at revenue gap between the NHL and other leagues

In addition to ticket sales and national TV/media deals contributing to a big revenue gap between the leagues, another figure that stands out is the lack of local TV/media deals.

In that regard, 1% of the NFL's revenue comes from local TV and media deals, while 11% of the NHL's revenue comes from local TV and media deals. Similarly, 13% of the NBA's revenue stems from local TV and media deals, while in the case of the MLB, 23% of their revenue comes from local TV and media deals.

Despite the NFL having only 17 regular-season games per team, its $18.7 billion in revenue is commendable. While NBA and NHL players suit up for 82 games a season, MLB players suit up for 162 games a season.

There seems to be an opportunity for the NHL to capitalize when they negotiate their next media rights deal. The most recent media rights deal was finalized back in 2021, with the deal spanning seven seasons.

As a result, after the 2027–28 season, the league will be able to negotiate a new media rights deal, opening up the door to more revenue from national TV that would put them on par with other US-based leagues.