Daryl Katz working behind the scenes to help the Oilers succeed
This article is a fantastic profile of Oilers owner Daryl Katz, who has utterly transformed the Oilers from one of the NHL's most impoverished franchises that was just limping along to a huge success story and one of the NHL's most financially stable franchises.
There are a couple of staggering numbers to illustrate this. In the late 90s the Oilers were only bringing in $34 million in revenue and that's it - which explains why the Oilers lost stars of that era such as Mark Messier, Bill Guerin, Jason Arnott, Janne Niniimaa, Curtis Joseph, and Doug Weight all to the almighty American dollar that was calling all of these players to bigger $ free agency deals, forcing trades along the way for younger and cheaper talent. That was dead last in the league, by the way. By this time the Edmonton Investor Group (or EIG for short) had bought the team and needed to increase revenues as a matter of survival.
The infancy of increasing revenues revolved around the EIG hiring a former Labatt's executive to run the business side of things named Pat Laforge, who partnered up with the Flames to convince the provincial government to run a lottery with funds split between the two teams, as well as more outreach to outlying areas for season ticket buyers, to the point where the Oilers soon thereafter had season ticket holders from places like Drayton Valley, Lloydminster, Grande Prairie, and as far north as Ft. McMurray and Yellowknife. By the time Daryl Katz had bought the Oilers in 2008, with Laforge retained as the business head, the team had admirably more than doubled revenues to $85 million. Prior to then the NHL had given the EIG assurances that if they could just hold on until 2005 when a salary cap would be brought in, the finances of the Oilers would stabilize as well as those of most of the smaller markets across Canada and the US - and honestly prior to the salary cap even the medium sized markets were having issues with viability as they also routinely lost players to teams like the New York Rangers or Toronto.
Katz paid $200 million for the Oilers back in 2008, which was a slight overvaluation of the $175 million they were valued at, but I'm sure he decided he could live with it considering his grand plans for the team.
After some tense negotiations with the city, Rogers Place was constructed and built in 2016. This became the focal point of Katz's plan, as it brought revenues back into NHL norms which were missing at the old Rexall Place which was run by Northlands. It also expanded on other norms, such as bringing in luxury boxes which were missing at Rexall Place but the norm in pretty much every other NHL arena.
Having worked just across the street from Rogers Place for ~ three months myself, I can tell you that although all of downtown has not been revitalized by Rogers Place the immediate radius in the downtown core around Rogers Place has certainly been revitalized. In the inaugural season of Rogers Place, Oilers revenues jumped almost $40 million season over season - and that was barely scratching the surface of its potential.
Fast forward to last season and the Oilers pulled in $388 million in revenue - literally over 10 times what they were bringing in during the EIG-owned 90s - and have leaped up to sixth overall in franchise value to $2.45 billion - once again valued at over 10 times what Daryl Katz paid for it in 2008.
Take a minute and let those numbers sink in. 10 times the amount of revenue and a franchise that's ballooned in value by the same volume thanks to it's current owner. That's a phenomenal accomplishment. This is made all the more impressive when you look at the teams ahead of the Oilers - The Leafs, The Rangers, the Habs, the Kings, and the Bruins - all in markets that are at least four times as large as Edmonton is. This means the Oilers are punching way above their weight class in terms of franchise value to it's owner. In fact, you'd have to go down to 20th in the list - the Flames - to find an NHL team in a market with an equivalent population. That's quite a difference there. Once the Flames new arena is built they'll no doubt increase in value too, but for now the combo of Katz and the Oilers dwarf them financially.
But it's not just on the ice that Katz's presence is felt, it's off the ice too. He is also determined to pay for the best off the ice too. After Laforge retired in 2015, Bob Nicholson, a Hockey Canada executive for years, was hired prior to as a replacement for Laforge. He shelled out $25 million to recruit Ken Holland to be the GM. He's paid to expand the management team - now the Condors have a separate GM, which wasn't always the case, even as recently as Peter Chiarelli. There are more assistant coaches than there used to be, as well as specialty coaches such as a skating coach, goalie coach, and video people. Our scouting department is bigger - both on the pro and amateur sides. In recent years the team has embraced analytics and hired three people to staff that department. They even hired the same Mental Performance Coach who worked with the NBA's dynasty era Chicago Bulls in the 90s and also worked with Michael Jordan individually to make him the player he was. Katz even has a larger business team than the EIG or Peter Pocklington ever had. All because he wants this team to win and is willing to spend to do it.
It's fun to think about what a future with Katz at the top will be for Oilers fans.