Post by jaylon1970 on May 23, 2009 23:09:22 GMT -5
www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2009/05/22/Hurricanes-Cashin-0/
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes are behind on the ice against the Pittsburgh Penguins but another deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs has them financially ahead in the accounting department.
It's a business model that has worked for the small-market franchise before.
The only time the Hurricanes made a profit in the past seven years came when they won the Cup in 2006. Their surprising run to the Cup finals in 2002 gave them one of their best pre-lockout seasons since moving to North Carolina a dozen years ago.
Now back in the Eastern Conference finals, they're playing in front of sellout crowds and commanding the spotlight in the college basketball-crazed region -- a run that will only help the bottom line.
"Making the playoffs most years would suit everything better on a year-to-year basis, but you take the deep runs when they come," team spokesman Kyle Hanlin said, "and you're not going to argue against them."
The Hurricanes' recent seasons have certainly taken on an all-or-nothing feel.
They missed the playoffs in the two years following their '02 playoff run, then did it again following the 2006 Cup win.
However, they're again within reach of the finals, though they trail Pittsburgh 2-0 in their conference finals series heading into Game 3 here Saturday night.
Overall, Carolina has won nine of its last 10 playoff series, with the only loss coming against Detroit in the '02 finals.
The longer the Hurricanes last in the playoffs, the more revenue-producing home games they get. The buzz leads to a surge at the box office, where fans are lining up for single-game playoff tickets and putting down deposits on season tickets for the following season that also ensure seats for the rest of the current postseason run.
It's an essential element to doing business in a non-traditional hockey market.
"Honestly, I think winning is important no matter where you are," said Gerry Helper, the vice president of communications for the Nashville Predators. "It's certainly important to Carolina, to Nashville, to Tampa, but it's also important in traditional markets.
"And I think that's not just in hockey."
Carolina won't release specific financial figures.
Since the league revamped its financial model after the 2005 work stoppage to include revenue sharing, the Hurricanes said they made a profit in 2006 and operated with a loss for the non-playoff years in 2007 and 2008.
Before the lockout, the Hurricanes operated in the red even during the '02 run, though they lost less money that year than while missing the playoffs in the two seasons that followed.
This year, Carolina said its break-even point came during Game 6 of the second-round series against top-seeded Boston.
It's the typical small-market-franchise dilemma of making the team competitive while not spending itself into huge losses.
At least the gate receipts should be higher considering the ticket prices are inching upward with each round. Single-game tickets ranged from about $25 to $200 for the regular season and were similarly priced for the first-round series against New Jersey.
Against the Bruins, that range increased to about $50 to $250 and included more than 200 standing-room only tickets for Game 6.
Now the team is charging about $85 to $300 for single-game tickets and sold standing-room only tickets for both Games 3 and 4 against the Penguins, director of ticket sales Kyle Prairie said.
The day after the Hurricanes closed out the Bruins in Boston, fans were lined up at the RBC Centre to buy tickets for the next round, while the sales staff had to send out for hamburgers for lunch because no-one could leave amid the constantly ringing office phones.
"Everybody loves a winner, but it would be less vitally important for us to go as deep as we have gone if we'd have had more consistency in reaching the playoffs every year," Prairie said. "When this team goes deep, it really helps our ticket sales.
"And certainly with the economy like it is right now, this run has helped tremendously."
Erik Cole has seen things here at their best and worst.
The winger was the up-and-coming youngster on the '02 squad that lost in the finals to the Red Wings, then was the inspirational veteran who returned from injury to help the Hurricanes win the first major professional sports championship in the state's history in '06.
He's also seen those years when the Hurricanes missed the playoffs. Perhaps that helps him -- and those fans -- savour these deep runs even more.
"Just to be playing this time of year -- it gives the community something to rally behind and it jolts the economy a little bit," Cole said. "It's a great time of year to be playing hockey in this area, for sure."
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes are behind on the ice against the Pittsburgh Penguins but another deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs has them financially ahead in the accounting department.
It's a business model that has worked for the small-market franchise before.
The only time the Hurricanes made a profit in the past seven years came when they won the Cup in 2006. Their surprising run to the Cup finals in 2002 gave them one of their best pre-lockout seasons since moving to North Carolina a dozen years ago.
Now back in the Eastern Conference finals, they're playing in front of sellout crowds and commanding the spotlight in the college basketball-crazed region -- a run that will only help the bottom line.
"Making the playoffs most years would suit everything better on a year-to-year basis, but you take the deep runs when they come," team spokesman Kyle Hanlin said, "and you're not going to argue against them."
The Hurricanes' recent seasons have certainly taken on an all-or-nothing feel.
They missed the playoffs in the two years following their '02 playoff run, then did it again following the 2006 Cup win.
However, they're again within reach of the finals, though they trail Pittsburgh 2-0 in their conference finals series heading into Game 3 here Saturday night.
Overall, Carolina has won nine of its last 10 playoff series, with the only loss coming against Detroit in the '02 finals.
The longer the Hurricanes last in the playoffs, the more revenue-producing home games they get. The buzz leads to a surge at the box office, where fans are lining up for single-game playoff tickets and putting down deposits on season tickets for the following season that also ensure seats for the rest of the current postseason run.
It's an essential element to doing business in a non-traditional hockey market.
"Honestly, I think winning is important no matter where you are," said Gerry Helper, the vice president of communications for the Nashville Predators. "It's certainly important to Carolina, to Nashville, to Tampa, but it's also important in traditional markets.
"And I think that's not just in hockey."
Carolina won't release specific financial figures.
Since the league revamped its financial model after the 2005 work stoppage to include revenue sharing, the Hurricanes said they made a profit in 2006 and operated with a loss for the non-playoff years in 2007 and 2008.
Before the lockout, the Hurricanes operated in the red even during the '02 run, though they lost less money that year than while missing the playoffs in the two seasons that followed.
This year, Carolina said its break-even point came during Game 6 of the second-round series against top-seeded Boston.
It's the typical small-market-franchise dilemma of making the team competitive while not spending itself into huge losses.
At least the gate receipts should be higher considering the ticket prices are inching upward with each round. Single-game tickets ranged from about $25 to $200 for the regular season and were similarly priced for the first-round series against New Jersey.
Against the Bruins, that range increased to about $50 to $250 and included more than 200 standing-room only tickets for Game 6.
Now the team is charging about $85 to $300 for single-game tickets and sold standing-room only tickets for both Games 3 and 4 against the Penguins, director of ticket sales Kyle Prairie said.
The day after the Hurricanes closed out the Bruins in Boston, fans were lined up at the RBC Centre to buy tickets for the next round, while the sales staff had to send out for hamburgers for lunch because no-one could leave amid the constantly ringing office phones.
"Everybody loves a winner, but it would be less vitally important for us to go as deep as we have gone if we'd have had more consistency in reaching the playoffs every year," Prairie said. "When this team goes deep, it really helps our ticket sales.
"And certainly with the economy like it is right now, this run has helped tremendously."
Erik Cole has seen things here at their best and worst.
The winger was the up-and-coming youngster on the '02 squad that lost in the finals to the Red Wings, then was the inspirational veteran who returned from injury to help the Hurricanes win the first major professional sports championship in the state's history in '06.
He's also seen those years when the Hurricanes missed the playoffs. Perhaps that helps him -- and those fans -- savour these deep runs even more.
"Just to be playing this time of year -- it gives the community something to rally behind and it jolts the economy a little bit," Cole said. "It's a great time of year to be playing hockey in this area, for sure."