Tampa Sports Authority netted $875K from NHL Stadium Series game

Tampa Sports Authority’s gross profit from hosting an NHL Stadium Series game between the Lightning and Bruins at Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 1 was an estimated $875,000.

The event, which was a sellout, brought in $1.76M for the Authority and created $900,000 in expenses, according to an event summary included in recently released Authority meeting minutes. (Those figures do not constitute the event’s overall revenue).

The Authority’s Stadium Series sources of revenue begin with the $500,000 venue rental fee paid by the NHL, with the league also covering any of the Authority’s direct event-related expenses.

The Authority collected a $5 facility fee on each ticket sold, and a ticket surcharge equal to 8% of the price of each ticket, not to exceed $2.50 per ticket. And it retained 20% of merchandise sales revenue with the other 80% going to the NHL. Ancillary revenues, including food and beverage (Legends Global handles the stadium’s F&B) and parking, went to the NHL, as did all the ticketing and premium ticketing sales revenue.

The event was widely regarded as a success thanks in part to the weather’s fortuitous cooperation, which was the major concern with an outdoor hockey game played in south Florida (even in winter).

The Authority budgeted a $1.01M profit from the Stadium Series game, so it missed that mark. But during a late March board meeting Raymond James Stadium VP/Stadium Operations David Moss said the event’s budget had erroneously been set too high.

Raymond James Stadium also hosted an unbudgeted Zach Bryan concert March 14 that resulted in a $1.3M profit for the Authority, while two nights of Monster Jam (Feb. 28 and March 1) netted another roughly $822,500.

Per the Authority’s stadium lease with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Authority pays the Bucs the first $2M generated each year from non-Bucs events, and 50% of any non-Bucs event revenue beyond the $2M threshold.

Raymond James Stadium hosted three nights of world famous K-Pop group BTS this past week, which drew nearly 200,000 fans, according to a LinkedIn post from Moss, meaning April will likely be another highly profitable non-football events month for the Authority (and the Bucs).