NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league expects to generate more than $5 billion in revenue during the 2021-2022 season. 

That is if a full regular season and postseason isn’t disrupted by the global pandemic.

The NHL pocketed $4.4 billion in revenue in 2019-2020, down 14% year-over-year. However, it missed out on nearly $3.6 billion in revenue that year due to limited fan attendance. Team valuations dropped a collective 2% from the previous year during that span, the first decline since 2001. 

The league has secured several deals that will help offset some of the losses.  

• A seven-year, $2.8 billion primary broadcasting deal was inked with Disney in March, bringing more than 1,000 games per season to ESPN. 
• A month later, the league landed a seven-year, $1.57 billion secondary rights deal with Turner Sports. 
• In August, the NHL became the latest league to begin selling jersey ads. The patches will debut in the 2022-2023 season. 
• The Washington Capitals became the first NHL team to land a jersey patch deal, signing a five-year agreement with Caesars Sportsbook in September. 

The future also looks promising for the NHL’s newest member. 

Last month, the expansion team Seattle Kraken broke the NHL’s sales record for a new jersey’s first five days. The team sold nearly $1 million worth of merchandise in their first preseason game.

It’s a good time to be a billionaire sports team owner.

The collective wealth of the 44 sports owners on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans rose a stunning 42% from last year to $392.4 billion.

Former Microsoft executive and Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer topped the list — for the seventh straight year — with a net worth of $96.5 billion, more than triple the next-highest owner, Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who’s worth $30.2 billion.

• The top of the list is dominated by NBA and NFL owners: 16 of the 20 richest American owners have a team in one of those leagues.
• New York Mets owner Steve Cohen joined the list after purchasing the team in October 2020 for $2.4 billion. Cohen’s $16 billion places him fourth overall and makes him the wealthiest MLB owner by a wide margin. 
• New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson wants the next owners to keep the teams where they are and will donate any future team sale proceeds to New Orleans charities. She is one of five women on the list.

The owners, who generally have much of their wealth tied up in stocks and company holdings, have benefited from a rise in the overall economy: The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are both up around 28% from one year ago.

Sony’s Indian entertainment group agreed to take a 53% stake in rival Zee Entertainment last week, investing $1.6 billion in the company. The deal has yet to close, but the combined company is reportedly already bidding for Indian Premier League media rights.

Star India bought the league’s rights for $2.6 billion in a five-year deal in 2017. This year, the price is estimated to grow another 25% for rights from 2023-2027.

Facebook, Amazon, Reliance, and Disney — which bought Star for $71 billion in 2019 — are all potential bidders. The Sony-Zee merger would also be a top contender as it stands to become the largest media group in India with control of 27% of the country’s media market, according to Edelweiss.

• Before Star outbid them in 2017, Sony held Indian Premier League rights for 10 years.
• In 2016, Sony purchased Ten Sports from Zee in a $385 million deal. Ten held rights to WWE, the UEFA Champions League, and major tennis and golf events.

Vikas Somani, head of mergers and acquisitions at Zee, made it clear that the combined company would be looking for more sports rights. He told Financial Times that “sports is one area which shall be looked upon keenly.” 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India plans to release the IPL’s media rights tender for the 2023-27 cycle in late October.

The Washington Football Team’s head athletic trainer, Ryan Vermillion, is the subject of a criminal investigation.

Reports surfaced Monday that team offices and Vermillion’s home were raided by Drug Enforcement Agency officers.

The team issued a statement saying that Vermillion has been placed on administrative leave “due to an ongoing criminal investigation that is unrelated to the team.”

The team has been a hotbed of controversy recently.

• In December 2020, team owner Dan Snyder accused co-owner Dwight Schar of an “extortion campaign” following reports that Snyder had reached a settlement over sexual harassment allegations. 
• In March, Snyder agreed to buy the 40% of the team he did not already own for close to $1 billion.
• Earlier this year, the team was accused of having a toxic work environment that tolerated sexual harassment. The NFL is leading an independent probe into the team and its culture.

Vermillion was brought to the Washington Football Team by head coach Ron Rivera. Rivera worked with him for nine seasons as coach of the Carolina Panthers, where he was the head trainer for 18 years.