Flyers’ Value ($1.35 BILLION) Soars Despite On-Ice Struggles

The Philadelphia Flyers, owned by Comcast Spectacor, are coming off the second-worst season in franchise history and haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1975.

On top of that, they have won only one playoff series in the last decade, and the team averaged just 16,541 fans per home game last season. That was the lowest full-season attendance figure since 1972-73.

But it hasn’t affected their value.

Fact is, according to a report by Sportico, the franchise is now worth $1.35 billion, an 8% increase over last year.

That puts Philadelphia as the seventh-highest-valued franchise in the 32-team NHL, per Sportico. The teams ahead of the Flyers: Toronto ($2.12 billion), which hasn’t won a Cup since 1967; the New York Rangers ($2.01 billion); Montreal ($1.7 billion); Chicago ($1.44 billion); Boston ($1.41 billion); and Los Angeles ($1.39 billion).

The Philadelphia Flyers’ cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, are 16th with a value at $900 million.

Arizona is last in the NHL, with its value at $465 million.

How value was calculated

Here is Sportico’s statement on how it reached its valuations:

“To derive the fair market value of the 32 NHL franchises, Sportico calculated each team’s revenue, relying on publicly available information and financial records — as well as interviews with those knowledgeable of team finances, including nine sports bankers and lawyers who actively work on NHL transactions.

“In the interest of accuracy, we traded candor for anonymity. This information was vetted with multiple team owners, team financial and operating officers, media relations personnel, and former team executives, as well as industry experts and sports-focused economists.”

You can see the value of all 32 NHL teams here. 

The Philadelphia Flyers have struggled to draw fans, but Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, said the league was not concerned. When he attended the Flyers’ opener last month, he said these things run in “cycles.”

“This has been a terrific franchise with great fan support,” he said. “And teams go through cycles. I don’t worry about the long-term connectivity of the fans to this team, particularly when you see what’s been done to the building. and it’s a fun place to go.

“This team will get better, and the fans will be back in bigger numbers.”

The Flyers were purchased for $2 million when the franchise started in 1967-68. Ed Snider and Jerry Wolman were the co-founders.