Blackhawks Win Cup, Lose Money

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jul 30, 2010 2:20PM

While the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup this past season, accomplishing the ultimate competitive goal in hockey, they didn't fare as well financially. The Blackhawks finished the season in the red in spite of nightly sellouts, record merchandise sales and a long playoff run. Rocky Wirtz first disclosed the team's fiscal issues while speaking at a private forum at the Economic Club of Chicago back in April. In an interview this week, he reiterated that team was overdrawn a number of times which required infusions of cash from other businesses within the Wirtz empire. While a deep playoff run helped, it still didn't add enough to the team's coffers to get the team into the black. Team executives wouldn't disclose the exact shortfall, but the team used the red ink to justify raising season ticket prices by 20 percent for next year.

Interestingly, Rocky Wirtz hired John McDonough away from the Cubs to run his team after his father's death in 2007, and McDonough is a guy who knows how to run a team that rakes in the cash hand over fist even while coming up short on the field. But "Dollar" Bill's decades of mismanagement caused the team to dig itself a deep hole. The elder Wirtz disclosed he'd lost almost $200 million on the team over a decade, including over $30 during the 2006-07 season. Meanwhile, the team's broadcast revenues, along with all of the NHL's, remain well below those of other pro sports.

Nonetheless, Wirtz has invested in all facets of the organization to upgrade facilities, ad staff and generally improve a franchise that was considered the worst in all of pro sports not that long ago. With that kind of balance sheet, it's not surprising that Rocky and McDonough expect it to take another few years before the team is profitable. But a winning team will certainly help accelerate the team's return to profitability.