The Carolina Hurricanes are a remarkable success story on and off the ice that may be interesting even for those who aren’t hockey fans.
The Canes have won the first two games of their playoff series against the New York Islanders, after having the third-best record during the NHL’s regular season. In short, they have a solid chance to win the Stanley Cup, which they did once before, in 2006.
Digest readers may be just as interested in the business story. The Hurricanes sold out every game this year for the first time in team history, averaging 18,798 fans. That’s more than the PNC Arena’s listed capacity of 18,700, which suggests a bunch of fans bought standing-room only tickets. Only Chicago, Detroit and Tampa Bay had greater average attendance among the U.S. teams in the NHL. Montreal topped the list at more than 21,000 but the Canes’ attendance slightly exceeded the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In 2016-17, the team had the worst average attendance in the league at about 11,800.
Winning sells tickets, of course, but owner Tom Dundon and President Don Waddell have also shown shrewd business skills since Dundon bought the team in 2017.
Dundon rarely talks to reporters, but Sports Business Journal got him chatting recently in a story that described him as one of the “most enigmatic and eccentric” pro sports owners. Here are some highlights:
- He bought the team at a valuation of $420 million six years ago. Forbes now estimates it is worth $825 million.
- He didn’t know where the Hurricanes were based when he asked about buying the team.
- The Hurricanes have plans for an $800 million mixed-use development around PNC Arena, including workforce housing. They have agreed to keep the team in Raleigh until at last 2044. Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin calls it the city’s biggest economic development project ever.
- He lives in Dallas and stays at the Umstead Hotel in Cary when visiting North Carolina a couple times a month for a day or two. He and his wife have five kids from 7 to 22..
- He’s a 10% owner of the TopGolf chain.
- He got rich through subprime auto lending, at his own company and its successor owner, Spain’s Banco Santander.
- He exerts great financial discipline, offering skimpier contract terms to broadcasters Chuck Kaiton and John Forslund, who left the organization. Coach Rod Brind’Amour has worked all season on a contract that expires this year, which is highly unusual in pro sports.
- Gov. Roy Cooper and former state budget director Charlie Perusse, who are leading efforts to attract Major League Baseball to Raleigh, view Dundon as the most likely owner of the team.
- He thinks Raleigh would be a strong MLB market both for tickets and sponsorships. He probably wouldn’t be the sole owner of a new franchise likely to cost at $2 billion.
