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Report: NHL has lost $240 million the past two seasons

Gary Bettman

Despite posting record revenues, the NHL has lost approximately $240 million over the last two seasons, a league source tells RDS’s Renaud Lavoie.

In a related story, the timing of this leak is about as accidental as Milan Lucic bowling over Ryan Miller.

The NHL has faced a considerable, if not impossible, PR challenge during the latest CBA negotiations. How, many have wondered, can the owners be demanding concessions from the players following a season that saw the league crowing that business has never been better?

The NHL painted a much bleaker picture ahead of the 2004-05 lockout, going so far as to commission a report from former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt that showed a $273 million loss during the 2002-03 season.

The NBA painted a similarly bleak picture prior to last season’s lockout, claiming the league was losing upwards of $300 million per season.

Of course, now that the NHL has played the “we’re losing money” card, it’s also opened itself up to the “maybe if you didn’t have a team in Phoenix” rebuttal.

After all, not all business losses can be chalked up to paying the employees too much.