It’s my Parting Shot to continue with my fears for Major Junior hockey when it comes to holding on to elite talent through the entirety of their Major Junior eligibility…..

I finished last Tuesday’s commentary by saying that, quote, the biggest fallacy out there is that C-H-L team owners are making scads of money in operating their clubs – which is the furthest thing from the truth. I’m going to expand on that today by explaining that paying players more than the current “allowances” per month that they get is near impossible while remaining viable!

Let’s take a look at the Saskatoon Blades, since I have a better idea of what their situation is compared to any other team. Again, I haven’t kept up with how much it takes to operate them on a per season basis. I remember about 15 years ago, when the Brodsky family owned the team, that the expenses were about $2,000,000 per season. Fast forward to now and, with rising costs for everything – and not just 10 percent increases in many instances, hello hotel rooms and meals – plus the fact that the Priestner family ownership has put a premium price on a positive player experiences, which has helped make Saskatoon a destination of choice for many players now, that per year expense figure is almost doubled what it was 15 years ago!

Let’s say $3,750,000!!

This past season, the Blades averaged 4, 770 fans per game. Not all pay the full adult ticket price, so let’s say the average ticket is $15. That’s $71, 550 of ticket revenue per game. Times that by 34 regular-season home games and that’s under $2,500,000 in revenue, $1,250,000 short of expenses!! Oh sure, there’s merchandise plus in house rink-board and ice revenues – but that might make up the shortfall in a good year! Even if you want to argue that the average ticket price is $20 – which it isn’t, but you keep on believing that – the revenue is just under $3,250,000, about $250,000 short of expenses!!

But, Major Junior hockey team owners are making scads of money, right?! What about the small markets that don’t average anywhere close to 3,000 fans per game. They may pinch pennies and bring the expense side of the ledger down by $500,000, but they’re still in the red and all teams need playoff revenue to be in the black, which not everybody gets. Plus, playoff revenue gets shared amongst all teams!

In other words, believe me or not, paying players more money to stay and not bolt for the N-C-Double-A is not a reasonable expectation!

That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!