FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 17, 2009
30 Million Reasons for Return of NHL to Winnipeg
Amidst the recent stories of turmoil within at least half a dozen NHL markets, a new report suggests that a team located in Winnipeg would have made in excess of US$30 million over the past four years.
"We've always known in our hearts that a team in Winnipeg would be able to more than just survive. Now with these numbers it is apparent that a Winnipeg franchise would be amongst the most financially sound in the league," says Chris Mackie, President and Spokesperson of myNHLincludesWinnipeg.com.
Winnipeg will host an NHL Exhibition game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday September 24 at the MTS Centre.
"This game will be amongst the highest grossing 'home' dates on Tampa Bay's schedule. At some point, somebody is going to take notice of what is happening here. We just want to make sure the word is getting out," Mackie says.
The main highlight of the report shows a US$30 million profit for a team playing out of the newly built MTS Centre since it's opening nearly five seasons ago. The report can be found at
http://tinyurl.com/myNHLincludesWpg"We didn't want to be accused of rigging the numbers. We were purposefully conservative in coming up with revenue estimates. For example, we assumed zero NHL revenue sharing, zero playoff game revenue and zero non-hockey related revenues from the MTS Centre."
"We didn't skimp on expenses either. For team payroll, we used the team payrolls of the Stanley Cup Champion in each season to show that these numbers do not sacrifice the on-ice entertainment so critical to success off the ice."
“With the current CBA, Winnipeg can realize significant profits every season.”
Mackie acknowledges that hindsight is often 20/20. But at the same time he looks to the future and sees an upside in Winnipeg that isn't present in many current or proposed NHL markets.
"Our city may not be huge in terms of general population. But when counting rabid hockey fans, our city is absolutely massive. Hundreds of thousands of people would immediately jump to support a local team. It is only a matter of time before the NHL board and a sun-belt hockey team owner catches the vision."
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contact information:
Chris Mackie, President
myNHLincludesWinnipeg.comemail:
Chris@myNHLincludesWinnipeg.comcell: (204) 803 - 5956
http://tinyurl.com/myNHLincludesWpgwww.myNHLincludesWinnipeg.com has been online since August 2008 with hundreds of articles, audio and video files. With between 15,000 and 20,000 hits per month, it is the premier website worldwide for all NHL relocation and expansion resources. The site also contains:
~ A key word search tool
~ An interactive forum
~ "The Hangar" chat room
~ "The OFFside Blog"
~ "The Press Box" links page
