## Ice hockey’s business is heating up, wiht two clubs now worth at least $4 billion and the league’s 32 franchises averaging $2.2 billion-more than double were they were just three years ago.

Heartbreak has become all too familiar for the Toronto Maple Leafs, winners of 13 Stanley Cups across their 109-year history-although none since 1967, the NHL’s longest title drought.

But while it may offer little solace to a passionate fan base still smarting from a second-round playoff exit in may,the Maple Leafs are starting to look like a dynasty in a different kind of competition.

For the third straight year, Toronto is the NHL’s most valuable team, rising 16% to an estimated $4.4 billion. The Maple Leafs are one of two hockey franchises worth at least $4 billion, along with the new York Rangers, just a year after the sport broke the $3 billion barrier and four years after it first reached $2 billion.

That growth extends across the league, with the 32 NHL clubs’ average valuation climbing 15% year-over-year to $2.2 billion. The increase follows even larger jumps in each of the last two years, leaving teams worth more than double the $1 billion average from 2022.

Even the NHL’s least valuable team-the Columbus Blue Jackets-is up 30% since 2024, to $1.3 billion,meaning that the league’s floor now exceeds the entry price in MLB,where Forbes valued the Miami Marlins at $1.05 billion in March. While both leagues had a financial cellar of $1 billion last year, this is the first time that the hockey list’s basement dweller has topped baseball’s since Forbes began publishing sports team valuations in 1998.

Of course, the NHL can’t match MLB at the top of the economic leaderboard, where four baseball teams surpass the Maple Leafs, led by the $8.2 billion New York Yankees. Nor,for that matter,is the NHL on a level with the NFL or the NBA,two leagues that have a combined 50 franchises worth more than Toronto.

But there are plenty of reasons to buy into hockey’s growth story. For starters, Forbes estimates that every NHL franchise was profitable during the 2023-24 season, with operating income averaging $74 million and ranging from the buffalo Sabres’ $11 million to the Edmonton Oilers’ $244 million-one of the best marks in any sport. By contrast, two NBA teams and 11 MLB teams, and also 16 of MLS’s 29 clubs, were in the red last season, according to Forbes estimates.

Meanwhile, the NHL’s business has continued to expand in a new era of labor peace, with the league and the players’ union ratifying a collective bargaining agreement in July-no small accomplishment in a sport that lost the entire 2004-05 season and parts of 2012-13 becuase of lockouts. Despite turbulence with regional sports networks that has cost some franchises lucrative local media rights deals, NHL teams averaged $248 million in revenue last season, surging 34% in three years, according to Forbes estimates.

Fueling those gains has been an overhauled approach to sponsorship, including the introduction of corporate logos on helmets and uniforms in 2021 and 2022. According to research firm SponsorUnited, 27 of the NHL’s 32 teams have partners for their jerseys, and 31 do for their headgear. Just a

The NHL’s Most Valuable Teams 2025

The business of hockey is booming. average franchise values in the National Hockey League are up 11% year-over-year,to $1.44 billion, as the league benefits from a new era of media rights deals, rising ticket prices and a generally healthy economy. Forbes’ annual ranking of the NHL’s most valuable teams reflects this, with the top teams now worth over $4 billion.

At the top of the list is the Toronto Maple Leafs,valued at $4.4 billion, a 16% jump in the last year. The team generates a remarkable $375 million in revenue and $191 million in operating income, and is owned by Rogers Communications and Larry Tanenbaum. The ownership structure is currently in flux, as Rogers is considering selling a stake in MLSE, the parent company of the Maple Leafs, Raptors, Toronto FC and Argonauts. It is unclear weather the group will ultimately sell a majority or minority stake. Next year, meanwhile, Rogers Communications-which owns 75% of maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the parent of not only the NHL team but also the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, MLS’s Toronto FC and the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts-is expected to exercise an option to buy the rest of MLSE from billionaire Larry Tanenbaum.

Coming in at number two is the New York Rangers, valued at $4 billion. The Rangers, owned by Madison Square Garden Sports, boast $322 million in revenue and $182 million in operating income, with a one-year value change of 14%.

Then there is the question of expansion. The NHL, which saw the Seattle Kraken take the ice in 2021 for a $650 million fee, has no formal plans to swell beyond 32 teams, but commissioner Gary Bettman has teased the idea, telling CNBC last month that the league’s existing owners have made clear that any expansion fee would have to “start with a two”-as in $2 billion. And any successful bid would likely have to include a new arena, which could tack on a capital investment of $1 billion.

It would be a big score for a league that thinks it is indeed already on the power play.

2025 NHL TEAM VALUES

#1.$4.4 billion

One-Year Change: 16% | Revenue: $375 million | Operating Income: $191 million | Owners: Rogers Communications, Larry Tanenbaum

#2. $4 billion

One-Year Change: 14% | Revenue: $322 million | Operating Income: $182 million | owner: Madison Square Garden Sports

The NHL’s Most Valuable Teams 2023: Rankings 6-13

Here’s a look at teams #6 through #13 on Forbes’ list of the NHL’s most valuable franchises, as of November 2023:

#6. $3.3 billion

One-Year Change: 14% | revenue: $288 million | Operating Income: $118 million | Owner: Jeremy Jacobs

#7. $3.2 billion

One-Year Change: 13% | Revenue: $275 million | Operating Income: $104 million | Owner: Paul holmgren

#8. $3.15 billion

One-Year Change: 12% | revenue: $265 million | Operating Income: $124 million | Owner: Comcast

#9. $2.55 billion

One-year Change: 19% | Revenue: $282 million | Operating Income: $92 million | Owner: Ted Leonsis

#10. $2.5 billion

One-Year Change: 18% | Revenue: $250 million | Operating Income: $69 million | Owner: Marian Ilitch

#11. $2.4 billion

One-Year Change: 14% | Revenue: $303 million | Operating Income: $98 million | Owners: Josh Harris, David Blitzer

#12. $2.3 billion

One-Year Change: 15% | revenue: $250 million | Operating Income: $70 million | Owner: tom Gaglardi

#13. $2.2 billion

One-Year Change: 19% | Revenue: $250 million | Operating Income: $77 million

#19. $1.9 billion

One-Year Change: 15% | Revenue: $210 million | Operating Income: $70 million | Owner: N. Murray Edwards

#20. $1.85 billion

One-Year Change: 16% | Revenue: $235 million | Operating Income: $66 million | Owner: Samantha Holloway

#21. $1.8 billion

One-Year Change: 16% | Revenue: $240 million | Operating Income: $68 million | Owner: Craig Leipold

#22. $1.75 billion

One-Year Change: 0% | Revenue: $230 million | Operating Income: $60 million | Owner: Fenway Sports Group

#23. $1.7 billion

One-Year Change: 21% | Revenue: $230 million | Operating Income: $45 million | Owner: Vincent Viola

#24. $1.6 billion

One-Year change: 7% | Revenue: $203 million | Operating Income: $35 million | owner: Bill Haslam

NHL’s Most Valuable Teams 2024

#28. $1.5 billion

One-Year Change: 13% | Revenue: $202 million | Operating Income: $28 million | owners: Mark Attanasio, Wes Edens

#29. $1.475 billion

One-Year Change: 29% | Revenue: $187 million | Operating Income: $26 million | Owner: True North Sports & Entertainment

#30. $1.45 billion

One-Year Change: 20% | Revenue: $175 million | Operating Income: $11 million | Owners: Terry and Kim Pegula

#31. $1.325 billion

One-Year Change: 30% | Revenue: $161 million | Operating Income: $19 million | Owners: John McConnell, Nationwide

$1.3 billion