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Blackhawks Reaping Millions Per Hour as Bedard Triggers Buying

barry m. bloom and kurt badenhausen
·4 min read
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Connor Bedard projects as a transformational hockey star, and he’s already changing things for the Chicago Blackhawks. In the 90 minutes after the Blackhawks won the NHL draft lottery and the right to pick the 17-year-old center from Canada, the team had sold more than 500 full season tickets and brought it more than $2.5 million, Jaime Faulker, the team’s president of business operations said via text. “We haven’t stopped smiling,” she said. “And the phones haven’t stopped ringing.”

At the start of the night, the Anaheim Ducks had the best odds to win the lottery at 18.5%, followed by the Columbus Blue Jackets at 13.5%, but Chicago (11.5%) jumped them both. The Blackhawks haven’t picked first since 2007, when they selected Patrick Kane, and there’s little doubt who they’ll pick this time around.

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“I’m feeling kind of stunned to be honest,” Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said shortly after the drawing and before the ticket orders began flowing in. “I’m just really excited for the city and the organization. Anytime you can add this kind of talent it’s a monumental thing.” The outcome is also a win for the NHL, which is set up to have a star player on an Original Six team in one of the country’s biggest media markets.

Bedard amassed 63 goals and 66 assists for 129 points at Regina in the Western Hockey League this past season. He also accumulated nine goals and 14 assists during the IIHF World Hockey Junior Championship to help Canada to the gold medal. Blackhawks attendance this season was lowest since 2007-08, off by 5,500 fans per game from its 2018-19 peak.

“Whoever winds up drafting Bedard, I would advise them that their ticket folks should get ready for some incoming calls,” Ahron Cohen, the former chief executive of the Arizona Coyotes and now a venture capitalist for ADvantage VC, said during a phone conversation. He was right.

Bedard is the most anticipated player to join the NHL since the Edmonton Oilers selected Connor McDavid with the top pick in the 2015 draft and the Toronto Maple Leafs picked Auston Matthews No. 1 a year later.

“You think about what happened when Connor McDavid was drafted and how that transformed the Oilers franchise,” Cohen said. “That happened overnight just in terms of interest in the team, awareness and excitement going into the next season.”

McDavid arrived a year ahead of the opening of the Oilers’ $465 million new home, Rogers Place. He was the best marketing material a sales staff could ask for as it began selling pricey premium seats and sponsorships. The arena upgrade transformed the finances of the club. The Oilers ranked near the bottom of the NHL’s financial table before Rogers, but they finished the 2021-22 season with the NHL’s fourth highest revenue, despite playing in one of the league’s five smallest markets.

Rogers serves as the centerpiece of the 25-acre ICE District. The development includes condos, a public plaza, dining, hospitality, retail and office space. The $2 billion project will eventually grow to nearly $5 billion, according to someone familiar with the plans. Oilers owner Daryl Katz has unloaded parts of the project, including the $400 million sale of the commercial portion of the 69-story Stantec Tower, as well as the sale of another office building to Alberta pension manager AIMCo for $300 million.

A decade before McDavid, another can’t-miss prospect turned around the finances of an NHL franchise. The Pittsburgh Penguins ranked last in NHL attendance during the 2003-04 season, with only 11,877 fans per game, including plenty of comp tickets. They played in the NHL’s oldest arena and had been mired in bankruptcy five years earlier.

After a lockout wiped out the 2004-05 season, the ensuing 2005 lottery served as the Sidney Crosby sweepstakes. The Penguins won a drawing that included all 30 teams because the cancellation of the previous season meant there were no standings to establish an order of choosing. The off-ice impact was instant, as attendance jumped 33% or nearly 4,000 fans per game, despite the Pens finishing with seven fewer wins than any other Eastern Conference team. The victories started coming the following season, and in March 2007, then-owner Mario Lemieux was able to secure an arena funding plan for the Consol Energy Center, which opened in 2010. Crosby, 35, and the Penguins have won three Stanley Cups but missed the playoffs this year for the first time in 16 years.

In Edmonton, McDavid, 26, soared to new heights, leading the league in goals (64), assists (89) and total points (153), the first player to do so since Wayne Gretzky in 1986-87. A center, McDavid is in the sixth season of an eight-year, $100 million contract and will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2025-26 season. The Oilers were recently valued by Sportico at $1.29 billion, good for eighth in the league.

Thank, McDavid. Welcome, Bedard.

(This story was updated with details about Chicago’s success in the lottery and ticket sales.)

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