Fans are back as Cup fight begins

NEW YORK — Watching games in empty arenas in the quarantined bubbles during the 2020 playoffs, the 2021 season and even in Canada earlier this year gave Gary Bettman even more of an appreciation for what NHL hockey is like in front of a sellout crowd.

“Our players get an extraordinary amount of energy and excitement from our fans and our full buildings,” the longtime commissioner said.

The Tampa Bay Lightning celebrated their second of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships at home last summer in the middle of a packed house, but that was far from the norm everywhere. Their games in Montreal during that final came in front of a paltry crowd of 3,500 at Bell Centre, which is usually a raucous arena known for the best atmosphere in the league.

There won’t be playoff hockey there this spring, but in three other Canadian cities and 13 in the U.S., every building is expected to be full this time of year for the first time since 2019. After navigating the twists and turns of the pandemic, the NHL is back to preCOVID-19 business levels, with the return to regular playoffs being a big reason for the league’s furious comeback.

“This is the ultimate return to normalcy,” Bettman said. “To have our full buildings and exciting games, what more could we ask for? Especially after what we’ve all been through the last two years.”

The NHL projected $5.2 billion in revenue at its annual Board of Governors meeting in December, with the salary cap set to rise $1 million next season after remaining flat since 2020. Even after the surge of the omicron variant of the coronavirus forced teams north of the U.S.-Canada border to play with no fans or limited attendance, the league is on pace to surpass the $5 billion mark.

“Revenue wise, we did fine this year,” Bettman said. “We did basically what we were projecting. The impact of having buildings empty in Canada for some period of time had an impact — material for those clubs — but in terms of the $5-plus billion were going to do, it was only a very, very small part of that.”

Even before the Cup is handed out before the end of June, that’s a big win, especially after losing out on $3.6 billion when the 201920 season was cut short and operating in a deficit to play a shortened, 56-game season in 2021.

While Bettman often points out that ticket sales and other gate-related income makes up less than 50 percent of the league’s business, the pandemic spurred more creativity in unearthing extra revenue sources. Ads were added to players’ helmets, jersey patches are coming next season and this is the first of seven-year U.S. media rights deals with ESPN and Turner Sports.