There is an interesting report from the Toronto Star about how the six Canadian teams made up 31% of the league’s ticket revenue last season.

Atop the list of income winners is the Maple Leafs, who nudged out the Montreal Canadiens to lead the league this past season with $1.9 million worth of ticket revenue per game. Based on 41 home games, that’s $77.9 million a year – not counting revenue from pre-season games. A year ago, the Leafs generated $1.5 million a game, according the report obtained by the Star from several league sources.

The report goes on to say that the league, taking out the six strongest Canadian teams, is only growing at about a 2% percent clip. It also showed that:

…eight U.S. teams – the Coyotes, the Florida Panthers, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders, Atlanta Thrashers, Washington Capitals, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues – generated less than half the amount of ticket revenue this season of the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators. At $1.2 million in ticket revenue per game, the Oilers and Senators garnered the least amount of ticket money among Canadian clubs.

I wrote a while back about ways that the NHL could and should manage some of the issues that they have as a league. I think what these numbers support is a reduction/contraction in some of the teams. What I don’t think would be wise, at least for the game in the U.S., is to expand North of the border. But I guess one would have to ask, if there is money to be made in Canada why not move more teams there?

I think the NHL is at a very big crossroads. As a league that, as the Star report points out, is a gate receipt league, they have very little room for expanded revenue streams. They have to decide how and where they are going to market their product.

Canada, is not the answer for a bigger and better revenue generating league. No offense to my neighbors up North but I think if the league wants to be a top tier league they have to figure out how to generate revenue in the U.S. That has to start with a better TV deal than the current one. One of the reason that the NFL took off was because of its lucrative television contracts. It allowed all of their teams to share in a larger piece of the pie…drawing in fans, but also making middle market teams more viable.

Whatever the solution is, the league needs to figure it out quickly. A 2% growth rate with a very limited TV revenue deal does not bode well for the future of the sport. Bettman needs to act now if he is serious about returning hockey to its rightful place at the sporting table.

What are your thoughts? Should the NHL move more teams up North or should they contract and start building a stronger U.S. base?