Is the Canadian actually “no better or worse” than other NHL teams when it comes to raising ticket prices, as Geoff Molson said Monday morning?
This is what the CH owner answered when asked by La Presse’s Simon-Olivier Lorange about the increase in ticket costs and the fact that the management is not necessarily aiming for the series, but above all for promotion. .
Using tools from statistics firms and sports marketing research groups*, I tried to verify whether Geoff Molson was telling the truth.
The conclusion is that he is not right. It’s not the same everywhere in the league.
Much more expensive
Yes, some teams are worse than the Canadiens and others are better. But the Canadian is one of the worst. Especially when we see that the teams that have increased prices more have won one or more Stanley Cups in recent years.
The average price of a ticket in 2022 for the Canadiens was $143, more expensive than 25 other clubs (all prices in this text were converted to Canadian dollars using the exchange rate in effect for the period).
In 2011, the year Geoff Molson became president and CEO of the team, it was $92.
In Tampa Bay, ticket prices increased from $39 to $103 between 2011 and 2022. The growth is immense, but so is the spectacle on the ice.
In Carolina, average prices rose from $43 to $80. In Colorado between $42 and $82. These are also significant increases that are directly related to team performance. In Edmonton, the McDavid Effect caused tickets to rise from $68 to $122.
But for teams that haven’t put on a big show often since 2011, like the Canadians, the increases are very different.
In Ottawa, tickets averaged $63 to $81. In Calgary between $70 and $90. In Vancouver from $70 to $103. In Florida they fell by $3.
We take solace in Toronto
Goeff Molson can at least boast about being less worse than Toronto, that’s for sure. The team, allergic to series wins, remains the organization par excellence when it comes to printing money, while the cost of average tickets has risen from $131 to $196.
If we count four tickets, two beers, four liquor, four hot dogs, parking fees and two caps for a Canadiens game, an evening costs $748 (2022), making it the seventh most expensive game in the league after Toronto, Vegas, Seattle and Boston for example. In 2011 it was $502.
In Ottawa it’s $479, in St. Louis it’s $443 and in Florida it’s $432, just to name a few examples of the cheapest teams.
If the Canadian were experiencing financial difficulties, certain cost increases might be easier for fans to digest. However, this is not the case. According to Forbes, the Canadian’s 2022 earnings were $323 million. Only the Rangers, Kings and Maple Leafs did a little more.
If we subtract operating expenses from that revenue, the Canadian still earned $149 million in 2022, according to Forbes. It is the highest paid team after the Rangers. The league average was $66 million.
And all of this, of course, without taking into account the value of the Canadian, which increases every year. When Geoff Molson arrived in 2011, the team was worth around $677 million. The club is now worth around $2.4 billion.
It is not a non-profit organization
It’s all a question of supply and demand, of course, even if the average household in Quebec thinks less and less about going to the Bell Centre.
And a professional team is not a nonprofit organization. Geoff Molson is obviously an excellent manager and didn’t buy the team to lose money.
But if the goal of making the playoffs is secondary to a team so expensive to attend, surely the $11 can of Molson Ex at the Bell Center is for the die-hard fan who can’t put up with it any longer , harder to swallow is you asking me to visit your club.
*Source: Team Marketing Report and Statista
-With the valuable help of Philippe Langlois