NHL Opens Collective Bargaining Agreement With Its Proposal, volume 2
By Jack Briggs
Yesterday we talked about the proposed reduction in the player’s share of NHL revenue. Today we are going to examine what comprises the Hockey Related Revenue (HHR) fund as the owners want to redefine what is HHR in the next CBA. The following is from the soon to expire Collective Bargaining Agreement (the entire CBA can be found under LINKS on The Hub). The highlights of each source of revenue are listed below and edited for ease of reading and understanding. We’ll discuss them later.
"HRR shall include the following non-exhaustive list of revenues:"
(A) NHL Regular Season & Playoff Gate Receipts: Every ticket sold in the building is counted as Gate Receipt.
(B) Pre-season Games: Take the ticket sales and subtract the cost for paying a team to come visit your arena. Home team has to compensate the visiting team (travel, fees, lodging, immigration costs, etc).
(C) Special Games: All revenues received by Clubs or Club Affiliated Entities derived from the playing of NHL special games (e.g., International Exhibition Games), except that with respect to the All-Star Game,
(D) NHL National, International and National Digital Broadcasts: US and Canada broadcast rights
(E) NHL Networks: Currently a money loser but included in case it turns a profit.
(F) Local Cable Television Broadcasts; Fox Sports Arizona would be included here.
(G) Local Over-the-Air Television Broadcasts: NBC for playoff games.
(H) Local Pay-Per-View, Satellite and Other Broadcasts:
(I) Local Radio Broadcasts:
(J) Club Internet:
(K) Publications:
(L) In-Arena Novelty Sales:
(M) Non-Arena Novelty Sales:
(N) Concessions:
(O) Luxury Boxes/Suites:
(P) Club/Premium Seats: Personal Seat Licenses, special charges for the right to buy these seats
(Q) Fixed Signage and Arena Sponsorships.
(R) Temporary Signage and Club Sponsorships.
(T) Parking: All revenues received by a Club or a Club Affiliated Entity from parking by NHL game attendees on days on which that Club’s NHL hockey games are played, or from parking by attendees at other NHL hockey events held at that Club’s arena (all such revenues net of Direct Costs, including, without limitation, salaries and fees (which Direct Costs shall include the cost of parking paid by any Club for luxury box/suite holders and club/premium seatholders), provided, however, that for Clubs that operate parking facilities directly or through a Club Affiliated Entity, the Direct Costs relating to such parking (other than the cost of parking paid by any Club for luxury box/suite holders and club/premium seatholders) that may be netted against total revenues generated by parking shall not exceed thirty (30) percent per League Year for such Clubs on an aggregated basis). The parties agree that revenues after netting of Direct Costs for parking shall not be reported as a negative number (less than zero) for any individual Club;
(U) Other Revenues: “Other Revenues” include, without limitation, Club and League revenues, and Club Affiliated Entity and League Affiliated Entity revenues received from the following, net of Direct Costs except where otherwise indicated:
(1) Club- or League-sponsored or branded events, such as: skills competitions, open practices, team mascot appearances and Player appearances;
(2) Club- or League-sponsored or branded events, such as: summer camps, ice hockey, in-line hockey and street hockey tournaments, fantasy camps, street festivals and skating parties (accounted for based on current reporting practices with respect to such revenues and the netting of costs reasonably and customarily related to such revenues);
(3) The sale or disposition of game-worn, practice- worn and other event-worn or used Player jerseys and/or equipment along with the sale of any other hockey-related items whose value is directly enhanced by an association with a Player’s personality rights;
(4) The sale or other conveyance of pouring rights and other product placement inducement rights allocated consistent with the allocation used in Section 50.1(a)(i)(Q);
(5) The sale of special memberships or access rights to attendees of NHL games or NHL-sponsored events in which current NHL Players participate;
(6) The exhibition of out-of-town NHL games or NHL events in arenas, including novelty and concessions sales at such events;
(7) All ticket personalization activities and service charges or commissions earned by a Club or Club Affiliated Entity from the sale of such tickets;
(8) Club- and League-specific lotteries and other Club- and League-specific government subsidies; and
(9) Any Club or League promotions not included above.