For the first time, hockey teams have been valued above the $4 billion threshold, with CNBC’s NHL valuation pegging the Toronto Maple Leafs at $5.4 billion, the New York Rangers at $4.7 billion and the Montreal Canadiens at $4.1 billion. The average NHL team is now worth $2.71 billion, up 23% from a year ago.
Don’t be fooled by the only NHL control sale completed in the past 12 months: the $1.8 billion sale of the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Hoffman family. The deal was approved by the league in June, but price negotiations took place about 18 months ago.
Instead, look at the latest minority stock deals. In March, the NHL approved Tom Dundon’s sale of a 12.5% stake in the Carolina Hurricanes, valuing the team at $2.66 billion. Scott Malkin and other shareholders are selling a 15% stake in the New York Islanders at a valuation of $3 billion. Sports bankers told CNBC that these deals represent what controlling stakes in both teams could sell for, given the hot market for sports teams.
“Like other major sports leagues, there is strong demand to own a hockey team because of the high media content value of hockey teams and the scarcity of teams,” said Sal Galatioto, whose firm Galatioto Sports Partners advises clients on both the buy and sell sides of sports team transactions. “Capitalism and technology are creating more wealth, and the NHL, like the NFL, NBA, and MLB, is an industry with very long product lifecycles, making it a risk hedge for AI.”
The NHL’s current national media rights deals with Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are worth an average of nearly $650 million a year through the 2027-28 season, but given the league’s strong TV ratings last season, a significant increase could be expected soon.
“The 2025-26 NHL regular season averaged 546,000 viewers across ESPN/ABC and TNT Sports, an increase of 25% from last year and the highest average viewership in more than a decade,” Sports Media Watch wrote. “The 25% increase is on the high end of general increases in sports viewership, which include the NBA’s 35% increase, men’s college basketball’s 19% increase, and the NFL’s 10% increase.”
Sports Media Watch also wrote that the 2026 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs averaged 1.8 million viewers in the U.S. on ESPN/ABC and TNT Sports combined. This is a 68% increase from 2025 and the highest average for a playoff game on U.S. television since 1994.
Another factor boosting the NHL’s valuation is that the NHL is considering adding teams in cities such as Houston and Atlanta, and it believes the expansion fees the new teams will pay will exceed $2 billion. The NHL’s newest expansion team, the Seattle Kraken, paid a $650 million fee to join the league for the 2021-22 season.
According to CNBC statistics, the league’s 32 teams will average $257 million in revenue for the 2025-26 season, up 6% from a year ago, while EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) averaged $48 million per team, down 11% due to arena costs. The league’s profitability should recover as money spent on hospitality, concessions and merchandise stores boosts revenue.
In April 2025, the NHL and Rogers Communications agreed to a 12-year Canadian national media rights agreement worth $7.79 billion based on exchange rates as of November 24, beginning with the 2026-27 season. That’s more than double the amount the league is getting from Rodgers’ existing 12-year contract. This will push the league’s hockey-related revenue, which includes media rights, sponsorships, premium seats, tickets, concessions and parking, to about $7.25 billion in the 2026-27 season, an increase of 7% from last season.
methodology
CNBC’s official NHL team valuation is the current enterprise value (equity plus net debt) calculated using a revenue multiple and includes the team’s arena economics, including non-NHL revenue accruing to the team’s owners. This valuation is intended to represent the valuation of a controlling interest in an arm’s length transaction and does not include the value of the arena or the real estate on which it is located.
Revenue numbers are net of revenue sharing and 35% of home playoff non-premium gate revenue that goes to the league’s revenue sharing pool. Earnings multiples are based on historical trading prices and what investors, league executives and bankers say about the current market.
CNBC’s value does not include other businesses related to the team that have separate financial statements, such as the Edmonton Oilers’ mixed-use real estate projects. For teams that sell their own merchandise, such as the Oilers, CNBC deducts the cost of goods sold from merchandise sales. Similarly, CNBC excludes the market value of affiliates/equity method investments to ensure consistent enterprise value to earnings and enterprise value to EBITDA multiples. Debt figures are the latest available and include both team debt and stadium debt.
CNBC will incorporate the value of the pending new arena into its valuation, once construction begins and funding is secured. For example, the Calgary Flames’ $2.25 billion valuation includes a new arena scheduled to open in time for the 2027-28 season. Similarly, CNBC’s valuation anticipates a significant increase in the NHL’s next U.S. national broadcast contract starting with the 2028-29 season.
Revenue and EBITDA numbers are for the 2025-26 season and are net of revenue sharing and player escrow. CNBC presents revenue and operating profit figures on a cash basis rather than on an accrual basis. CNBC’s numbers differ from the league’s official hockey-related revenue because they also include non-NHL arena revenue paid to teams. If an arena owner owns both an NHL team and an NBA team that play in the same building (as is the case with several teams, including Toronto’s Maple Leafs and Raptors, both owned by Rogers Communications and who play at Scotiabank Arena), the two teams will split revenue from non-sports events held at the arena equally.
All valuations are expressed in US dollars. The exchange rate for revenue and EBITDA is based on the one-year average from June 2025 to June 2026, CAD 1 = USD 0.72, and the exchange rate for team value and debt is CAD 1 = USD 0.71 as of September 21.
Sources for CNBC’s official NHL team ratings include team owners, investors and executives, as well as sports bankers and league consultants. Public documents such as stadium rental agreements, stadium authority budget audits, and credit rating reports. Sponsors and broadcast industry executives. The specific numbers were provided by league executives who spoke to CNBC on condition of anonymity because the contracts are private and they are not authorized to speak publicly. Numbers that could not be confirmed with sources are CNBC estimates.
—CNBC’s Jungwoo Ethan Kim contributed to this report.
