It can be a little misleading looking at the operating income for just one year as player contracts can be back loaded, signing bonuses can also throw things off. Looking at the data on the link, the operating income quoted was for 2010 which coincided with the highest we had paid in player expenses in the 9 years they have listed (60 mil), I'm not sure if Heatley's bonus was include in that or the 2009 numbers. If you look at the chart showing the last nine years of operating income, you can see it fluctuates year to year, but we actually come out positive. That said, while 2 years in pretty deep negatives is discouraging, our player salaries the 2 year following the last data in the link were significantly lower (about 7 mil less), so I doubt we are lossing money to that extent now.
The other thing to take into account is that by owning the arena with a primary tenant (the sens) many additional incomes are available not included in these numbers.
Agreed and while some years show a net positive Operating Income, it is Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Those charts do not reflect profit.
So it makes it almost impossible to know what the profit or loss picture really is, but I can pretty much assure you looking at the Forbes numbers Melnyk isn't making a fortune from the Sens operation, he is not making much if anything.
In terms of the arena and its potential to make additional monies, this becomes a matter much more complicated IMO.
There is little doubt in my mind Melnyk wouldn't have bought the arena without the team or vice versa. So there is a logical connection that any revenue generated from the arena, other than the anchor tenant (Senators), should be added to the balance sheet from hockey operations before stating Melnyk is making or losing money.
Yet Melnyk invested $92M in the Senators and another $38M-$58M in the arena. He then formed Ottawa Sports and Entertainment and decided these two investments were going to be treated as separate entities, as they were previously. So for us the fans to think his two businesses should be combined using one to offset the cost of the other really isn't appropriate, even if understandable.
The main issue I have with adding in the Entertainment business is the financials are not available, so it is nothing but assumption to suggest the total operation is making or losing money when we really have no way of knowing.
BTW my assumption is he is making money, just no idea how much.