The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup in late September, but it did not result in the huge windfall that typically comes with winning the National Hockey League’s championship.

Blame the pandemic. It pushed the playoffs to neutral sites devoid of fans, robbing “home” teams of critical revenue from selling tickets, beer and hot dogs, which for two previous Cup winners—the St. Louis Blues and the Washington Capitals—meant more than $20 million.

On top of that, the league played only 85% of its regular-season games with fans and is looking like it is still on thin ice: The 2020-21 season, which in a normal year would already be two months in, might not start until mid-January, knocking off one-third of the 82-game regular season. Nowadays, jam-packed arenas are a pipe dream, as is the cash from tickets, suites, concessions, sponsorships and parking, which account for more than 70% of total revenue in a typical season.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeoza...h=1a14657870dd