Coyotes may turn a profit if lockout wipes out the season

The NHL lockout, now in its 102nd day, has meant bad news financially for most teams. For the league-owned Phoenix Coyotes, however, it might mean they get to turn a profit.

Mike Sunnucks of the Phoenix Business Journal reports the team’s new $300 million lease agreement with prospective buyer Greg Jamison would help keep the team in the black.

The bulk of that deal is the city paying Jamison on average $15 million per season to run Jobing.com Arena. The first season of that deal is for $11 million but is pro-rated to when Jamison closes on the purchase.

“The $11 million dollar figure would have been for a full year,” said Glendale spokeswoman Julie Frisoni. “Since we are now halfway through the year, it will most likely be in the range of $5.5 million to $6.5 million. It just depends on when the purchase of the team is complete and when Jamison takes over management of the facility.”

It’s remarkable that it would take a complete meltdown of a year where no hockey is played in order to help the Coyotes make money, but in this situation does anything surprise anyone?

Should the season be saved, the Coyotes would have to hope the fans return to fill out the building for every game or else they’ll risk having another financially losing season.