THE BUSINESS OF HOCKEY
GOAT
Team Value
$1.67 B
Team value, as calculated by
in December 2023
At a Glance
Owner:
Championships:
Price Paid:
Year Purchased:
Revenue:
Operating Income:
Banners:
Jersey Retirements:
Player Trophies:
GM of the Year Awards:
Attendance to Capacity:
2
$240 M
2012
$279.73 M
$101.71 M
3
2
5
1
106.43%
2021
Write up to come
2020
Write up to come
2019
After years of riding the financial coattails of back-to-back Fifty Mission Cup championships before they were the ownership group, the GOAT franchise is seemingly turning a corner. Nikita Kucherov, almost single handedly, helped to drive both revenue ($229.3 million) and operating income ($47.7 million) to franchise record levels at either elite (led the league with a 27.1% spike in income), or near-elite (3rd in the league in revenue growth at 13.7%) rates. Kucherov's MVP season cut the ribbon on the GOAT trophy case, and finally allowed the team to hang their own banner from The Barn's rafters.
Speaking of The Barn, fans are slowly turning out in more respectable numbers. Since the original Forbes deep dive in 2017, attendance at The Barn has risen from 90.39% to 93.95% in 2019. This includes an attendance-to-capacity of 95.9% over the first half of the 2019-2020 season to date.
This success is coinciding with a GOAT team that finds themselves firmly in a playoff spot at the time of this writing. If management is able to close the book on the current five-year streak of playoff absences, ownership will be ecstatic as they'll then have momentum on their side to continue improving the financial standing of the franchise.
2018
GOAT's playoff drought extended to a fourth season, but their relative success in the early going of the 2018-19 season has enabled their attendance figures, and franchise valuation, to remain steady. The GOAT ownership group was able to secure a solid stable of sponsors in the off-season, something that the franchise was lacking in 2017.
The GOAT franchise is still searching for their first banner or player award since the ownership transfer in 2012 - if GOAT can build on their early season results, then locking down a few of those accolades are likely to follow, which will help to bring in more fans and drive up the franchise valuation further. GOAT's average attendance over the first 11 weeks of the 2018-19 season is at 94.15%, currently lowest in the NHFL, but still up on where their attendance has typically resided the two years previous.
Holding the franchise valuation back - despite a robust 7% increase over their 2017 valuation - is the lack of player-award wins, jersey retirements, division titles, regular season titles and - since 2010 - Fifty Mission Cup titles. After hosting the 10th anniversary draft in 2017, a significant amount of goodwill was built up with the fanbase, a playoff appearance in 2019 will go a long way to capitalizing on that momentum and will positively impact GOAT's 2019 valuation.
2017
G.O.A.T.'s franchise value remains strong despite a playoff drought that is going on three seasons. The team drew an average capacity of only 90.5% in 2017, good for 9th in the league, and has dipped below 90% in recent weeks. A lack of major sponsorships and player accolades has hindered G.O.A.T.'s ability to take the next step in team valuation, as has the dearth of recent on-ice success. Fans still remember the two Fifty Mission Cup titles that were won under a different ownership group, and the G.O.A.T. management team has played off those titles well to maintain a strong team valuation (6th in the NHFL).