The Chicago Blackhawks remain one of the NHL’s most valuable franchises with an estimated worth of $925 million, according to the latest rankings from Forbes. That’s the same valuation given to the Blackhawks last year, so the team’s holding steady as one of hockey’s biggest players.
Only three teams — the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, and Toronto Maple Leafs — have higher estimated values than the Blackhawks. None of these four teams should be too surprising. They’re all Original Six teams, and play in some of the biggest markets in North America.
The Rangers are the NHL’s most valuable team with an estimated worth of $1.25 billion. The Canadiens ($1.12 billion) and Maple Leafs ($1.1 billion) are the only other teams to top the $1 billion mark.
The Blackhawks have been slowly building out their foundation as one of the NHL’s marquee franchises over the past decade. With two of the most popular players in the world in Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, plus three fairly fresh Stanley Cup banners hanging in the rafters, it’s been an incredible run for Chicago.
Growing here in the 1990s, the Blackhawks weren’t even on local cable because of the tightfisted way then-owner Bill Wirtz ran the franchise. Then again, they still have a lot of catching up to do to the rest of Chicago. According to Forbes, the NFL’s Chicago Bears ($2.7 billion) NBA’s Chicago Bulls ($2.3 billion), MLB’s Chicago Cubs ($2.2 billion) and yes, even MLB’s Chicago White Sox ($1.05 billion), are all worth more than the Blackhawks.
Hockey may be popular as ever around these parts, but it’s still got work to do to catch up to the big three.