Back in black: Swift Current Broncos make a profit of 197k in 2013-14

The Swift Current Broncos are living proof that small market clubs can still make it in the Western Hockey League. The major junior team, which is located in the smallest community in the Dub of roughly 15,000 people, announced they earned a profit of $197,244 from the 2013-14 season.

What makes the Broncos’ profit notable is that they lost roughly $200,000 in 2010-11 and over $50,000 the year before. Their red balance sheets were starting to create chatter on whether the city had a big enough fan base to sustain a WHL club.

It would be understandable to assume the Broncos’ ticket sales went up after the community saw their team was on the ropes, but that’s not the case. Swift Current actually averaged fewer people last year (2,119) than when they lost a chunk of change in 2010-11 (2,137). It seems the organization was able to turn around its balance sheet because of a combination of a stronger business plan from its board of directors, improved concession sales and three home post-season games.

“It has been a gradual upwards slope to getting to where we are today,” says Liam Choo-Foo, the chairman of Swift Current’s board. “We stuck to a plan regarding the operation costs of the team and it paid off. In saying that, we benefited from a good product on the ice. We had three home playoff games and an exciting team to watch during the season. We also noticed we had a strong renewal rate for (season) tickets and concession sales were up.”

The Broncos’ board deserves its due for the team’s financial success. It can be easy to overlook a locally owned club’s board of directors at times because they don’t make the trades or score the goals. But the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ dysfunctional board meetings last year truly showed how much of an impact the board has on the morale of a team. It is crucial for major junior teams to have astute men and women to lean on as a crutch during the ups and downs of a season.

“Our board has stuck to our mission statement and long-term goals and it’s proving to work,” says Choo-Foo. “We’ve had board members leave because they’ve wanted to move on to a different stage in their lives, but we’ve stuck with the plan.”

Fortunately for the Broncos, they should continue to stay in the black over at least the next couple of seasons because of their on-ice product. GM-head coach Mark Lamb has built one of the top back ends in the league with a quality trio of Columbus Blue Jackets second-rounder Dillon Heatherington, Montreal Canadiens prospect Brett Lernout and Buffalo Sabres prospect Brycen Martin. Not to mention, there’s a chance Dallas Stars first-rounder Julius Honka could return this year and rookie Max Lajoie impressed in pre-season action. These budding blueliners should ensure some playoff revenue for Swift Current.

The problem with reporting that a major junior team is in the black is that it's bound to stir some discussion about the players' low salaries (16 to 19-year-olds earn $250 a month, 20-year-olds earn $600 a month), especially with some investigations going on now. The truth of the matter is that if the players’ salaries went up by a notable margin, it would practically guarantee that at least six teams would lose money per season. This would ultimately lead to the league shrinking from 22 teams to say 18 or so. Suddenly little Johnny goes from making $250 a month in the Dub while banking an education package to not being good enough to play in the league.

Red balance sheets elsewhere

More to the point, it's business as usual for a handful of teams in the WHL to lose money under the current system. BTN has learned the Prince Albert Raiders, Prince George Cougars and Hurricanes all had red balance sheets last year. Hearing these three clubs lost money isn't surprising at all because two of them (Lethbridge and Prince George) didn’t make the playoffs and Prince Albert only hosted two games in the second season. Most small market clubs live and die by whether they bring in playoff revenue.

There’s hope Prince George will turn it around under their new ownership group, but Lethbridge and Prince Albert are in rough shape. The locally owned Hurricanes will likely be forced to sell within the next two years if they continue to bleed money as they have over the last five seasons. The Raiders, on the other hand, won’t be moving anytime soon, but that’s not say it won’t happen down the road if ticket sales don’t increase.

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