NHL’s Gary Bettman on rising team values, league expansion, gambling
National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman said he believes NHL teams are still undervalued.
This is despite the average NHL team value reaching $2.2 billion, up 15% from last year, according to CNBC’s Official NHL Team Valuations released Tuesday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs top the 2025 CNBC list with a value of $4.3 billion, but Bettman says that team is still underselling the league’s richest team.
“If you put the Toronto Maple Leafs on the market alone, they would be sold at a valuation well over $4.3 billion,” Bettman said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday morning. “But that’s okay, because we’re up over 100 percent in the last three years, so I think we get some credit.”
Bettman added that there are a number of markets where NHL team values compete head-to-head with Major League Baseball valuations, which range from about $1.2 billion to $8 billion.
“The trend is very positive and the market will eventually determine what the real value is,” he said.
CNBC’s Official 2025 NHL Team Valuations: See Full List
The NHL commissioner also touched on the league’s expansion environment.
The league’s newest clubs include the Vegas Golden Knights, who entered in 2017 for a $500 million expansion fee, and the Seattle Kraken, which joined in 2021 for $650 million. Recently, the Arizona Coyotes relocated and rebranded as the Utah Mammoth in a $1.2 billion transaction.
The Golden Knights top the recent expansion teams in terms of value on CNBC’s annual NHL list at $2.1 billion.
After a record $7.7 billion Canadian dollar media rights agreement with Rogers Contact inside
In April, Bettman said the league has never been healthier and the competitive balance has never been better.
“My instructions from ownership are that if we are going to grow, it has to start with two.” [$2 billion]”Otherwise it makes no sense,” he said.
Bettman said there is a lot of interest in cities wanting to join the league.
The NHL commissioner also weighed in on the rise of sports betting and prediction markets, an area where professional hockey is at the forefront. In October, the league struck a deal with Kalshi and Polymarket, becoming the first major sports league to partner with the prediction markets platform.
Bettman says the alignment between sports betting and prediction markets gives the NHL more control and the ability to “cancel contracts that we feel are not appropriate.”
While there has been a wave of sports betting scandals in MLB and the NBA, Bettman said he has confidence in NHL players and staff.
“I don’t believe our game is as delicate as some people’s… you can’t escape this kind of cheating anymore,” he said.
