It’s no secret that business is booming for the NHL but the numbers are looking a bit better than expected.
Chris Botta of Sports Business Journal reports the league’s national revenue hit $3.7 billion. Botta adds that the new Canadian television deal that kicks in next season will likely bring those totals over $4 billion next near.
With that kind of haul and how it’s linked to the league’s salary cap, the original conservative estimate of just under $70 million is likely wrong and James Mirtle of The Globe And Mail points out the cap will likely be around $70.6 million for next season, which is closer to an estimate that was made in December.
That’s not all.
NHL's cap could well rise $6-million+ both this summer and next, hitting $76-million by 2015-16. Floor would be about $20-mil less.
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) June 9, 2014
That kind of escalation is great news for teams with money and cap space to spend to either retain their own free agents or help unrestricted players to cash in heavily. And you guys thought Thomas Vanek wouldn’t cash in this summer.
With that kind of money set to start floating around, prepare your outrage machines when seemingly average players start making the big bucks.