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Lethbridge Hurricanes, Swift Current Broncos among CHL teams in financial trouble

Kelly Friesen

There have been a lot of rainy days in the Lethbridge Hurricanes' front office lately. The Hurricanes announced a loss of $602,000 from last season at their annual general meeting on Monday.

The Hurricanes' financial woes shouldn't come to a surprise of anyone. The Alberta-based club has shown a reported loss of $1.25 million over the past three seasons.

There seems to be a combination of reasons. First of all, the Hurricanes haven't put a strong product on the ice lately. They haven't made the playoffs for three straight years. In addition, the Hurricanes had a failed marketing campaign, which included selling tickets at a 25 per cent discount, and their arena, the Enmax Centre, is under renovations.

As noted by Paul Kingsmith of Global Lethbridge, the Hurricanes' future in Lethbridge is up in the air.

For this coming season, the club is still budgeting a significant loss - $179,000 - but is trying to be more realistic in it's projections. The team has sold 1500 season tickets, on pace with last season, but without the 25 percent discount, a large bump in revenue already. And with a stronger team on the ice, and renovations now complete at the Enmax Centre, the hope is fans will start coming back.

However, the long term security of the franchise is still in question as it continues to lose money. Clark says negotiations with the City of Lethbridge, and specifically, the City run Enmax Centre, have begun as the club looks for help in covering it's bills. But the President points out the team isn't necessarily looking for handouts from the City.

"The Enmax as a Corporation may have access to funds that aren't necessarily City funded," said Clark, "so how the money comes about, it's too early (to say)."

The Hurricanes are only one of several WHL teams in financial trouble.

It wasn't that long ago when the Swift Current Broncos announced a loss of roughly $200,000 in 2010-11. It was also reported that the Broncos lost over $50,000 the prior year.

No different from Lethbridge, Swift Current's lack of financial success didn't turn too many heads. The Broncos, based in a community of 15,000 people, play in the WHL's smallest market. Not to mention, missing the playoffs in the past two seasons means the Broncos haven't generated any revenue from the post-season.

Sources also suggest the Prince George Cougars and Prince Albert Raiders haven't put together very impressive balance sheets over the past couple years.

Major junior money trouble doesn't stop with the Dub.

TVA Sports reported in June that the Rimouski Océanic lost roughly $100,000 last year. There are obviously more teams in the OHL and QMJHL than Rimouski that have recently lost money. They have just chosen not to be vocal about it.

Just because some CHL teams are losing money doesn't mean the entire league is a financial graveyard, though. The vast majority of the league, especially the big-market teams, is turning a profit.

The Kitchener Rangers announced a couple days ago that they cleared $551,000 last

season. It's believed the Rangers have been in the black for 17 consecutive seasons.

All that being said, can the CHL afford to pay their players more than $50 a week and offer better education packages without jeopardizing the health of some franchises? The numbers suggest no.

The proposed Canadian Hockey League Players' Association has suggested it's possible to beef up players' education packages. It's worth wondering: with what money? Unless the Hurricanes, Broncos, Océanic, and other struggling teams figure out how to grow money on trees, it seems they may have to close their doors if their expenses grow.

Sure, $50 a week is quite low. But taking into account these players' housing, food, and hockey equipment are paid for by their respective teams, they are getting a lot more than roughly $200 a month.

Not to mention, if a financially strong team like the Rangers is only clearing roughly $500,000 a year, there isn't exactly billions sitting in CHL owners' piggy banks.

Kelly Friesen is a Buzzing the Net columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KellyFriesen