After capturing their third Stanley Cup in the last six years, the Blackhawks' team value continues to rise.
According to Forbes, the Blackhawks are the fourth most valuable NHL franchise with a value of $925 million, a 12 percent increase from last year ($825 million). Forbes revealed that the Blackhawks generated $182 million in revenue and had an operating income of $44.8 million.
Here's Forbes' explanation on the Blackhawks' current value:
The Chicago Blackhawks captured their third Stanley Cup in six years by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in June. During their three-Cup run the Blackhawks have gone from a team whose profits were well below the other “original six” NHL teams–Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings–to being on par with them. It’s even better for owner Rocky Wirtz than his team’s numbers indicate. The Blackhawks had the league’s fourth-highest local television ratings on CSN Chicago this past season. The annual rights fee of about $10 million the regional sports network pays the team is very low for a market as big as Chicago. But the RSN is 20% owned by Wirtz, and the dividend he pockets each year is not even included in our operating income figures for the Blackhawks. The team led the NHL in attendance last season for the seventh straight year.
In 2013-14, the Blackhawks were valued at $625 million, which ranked fifth-best among NHL franchises at the time. That's an increase of $300 million over the last two years.
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Considering their substantial increase under Rocky Wirtz, the Blackhawks are on pace to become the fourth NHL franchise to reach a $1 billion value and it could happen as early as next year.
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Only three teams ranked higher than the Blackhawks: New York Rangers ($1.2 billion), Montreal Canadiens ($1.18 billion) and Toronto Maple Leafs ($1.15 billion).
According to Forbes, the average NHL team is worth an all-time high $505 million, which is a three percent increase from last year. Revenue is also up eight percent from the previous season with an average of $133 million.