The nice people at Forbes have put together their annual National Hockey League franchise valuations, using a series of mechanisms, levers and pulleys to approximate the value of the league's clubs. The Calgary Flames were given an approximate valuation of $435 million by Forbes, down slightly from 2014 and good for 15th - right in the middle - for the league as a whole.
The Flames have seen a fairly generous up-tick in their Forbes valuation over the past five seasons (all in US dollars):
- 2011: $220 million
- 2012: $245 million
- 2013: $420 million
- 2014: $451 million
- 2015: $435 million
One primary driver of their rising in valuation has to be their operating income (defined by Forbes by using their EBITDA, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation or amortization).