The Ottawa Senators hockey club is moving deeper into the National Hockey League playoffs than it ever has in the modern era.

With the Buffalo Sabres eliminated in game 5 over the Victoria Day weekend, the Sens are moving on to face either Anaheim or Detroit for the Stanley Cup.

The deeper the Sens go, it seems, the more people crowd into area sports bars and pubs and hold tailgate parties. Is there a monetary spin off to the local economy when an NHL franchise goes four rounds into the playoffs? If so, how much? And while Sens fans are encouraged to "Be Red," is the club itself in the black?

Club management is tight-lipped on questions surrounding exact revenues, although experts peg the amount an NHL team earns per playoff home game somewhere between $1 million and $2 million, depending on the city, by adding up gate receipts, merchandise, parking and concessions and deducting expenses.

It's likely higher still in Ottawa, since team owner Eugene Melnyk owns the building. Consider as well that ticket prices rise the deeper the team heads into the playoffs.

Cyril Leeder, COO of the Senators and Scotiabank Place, remained modest last week, saying that the team began turning a profit as of last Wednesday's home game, the first in the third playoff round. Every home game from now on is gravy.

"We've always said in the past that we needed to go two rounds to break even," Mr. Leeder told the OBJ. "We (budget) on six homes games. (May 14) would have been our break-even game."

But the real benefit from a successful post season, he added, is the impact on tickets sales for the following season.

"We had 200 separate transactions last week, which is slightly less than $1 million," he said. "And that's just season tickets. On top of that, we had some suites sold, some new signage, sponsorships – that's really good. You kind of hope and pray that when you go deep in the playoffs, your fans and the business community come out to support you, and they have been great."

There's a catch, though.

"We have to give half of the (profits) to the league," said Mr. Leeder. "It's part of the collective bargaining agreement. Between 40 and 50 per cent of it has to go to the NHL revenue sharing pool."

Money comes into the pool from profitable teams across the 30-team league. Teams in the bottom third in terms of revenue qualify for a share of that, thanks to the system incorporated after the labour lockout which cancelled the 2004-2005 season.

"We're in the middle third or the top third of teams," Mr. Leeder said. "We always aspire to be one of the clubs that pays in, so it's probably a good thing."

However, even before the Senators paid off their debts this season and started earning some coin, money was already circulating in Ottawa's economy thanks to the team's success.

"All the bars and restaurants, but especially the bars, see a significant increase in business," said Mike Ziola, president of the Ottawa chapter of the Ontario Restaurant, Hotel & Motel Association.

If the team had choked again and hit the links early, residents might have done their spending elsewhere. But because of hockey, most of the spending is focused on bars, he said, which is a positive for the sector, which was devastated by the lockout two years ago.

"The whole city is kind of going crazy now for the Sens," said Mr. Ziola. "You can never really recover your losses, but it's definitely brought it back. The bars are the ones that needed it the most the last little while. Their profit margins are so low."

The association, Mr. Ziola said, doesn't have hard numbers available for what an event like a Stanley Cup run in a particular city is worth to the local bar and restaurant community.

But for a sense of what it might be worth, consider Ottawa's third round opponent, the Buffalo Sabres.

Four years ago, around the time the Sabres were coming out of financial trouble, the New York state comptroller reported on the team's economic impact on western New York, and made rough estimates on the value of a game to the local economy.

"In addition to the economic benefits derived from direct team revenues, there is an indirect impact on the economy from complementary spending, such as in local bars and restaurants on game nights, from visiting teams and fans staying in local hotels, and from spending on the part of Sabres' employees," the official wrote.

The state comptroller took the estimated amount a team earned per playoff game on average ($1.4 million US in 2003), then employed what he or she termed a "conservative" multiplier of 1.5, to calculate the associated spending going on outside the arena.

If the Senators earn a similar amount per playoff game (in Canadian dollars), and that figure is multiplied by 1.5, then multiplied by seven home playoff games so far, it's possible they have generated an economic benefit of as much as $16 million Cdn.

To put that into perspective, that's enough to cover this year's salaries for the Senators' top scoring line of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza, as well as goaltender Ray Emery.

And then there are the intangibles.

While the Senators might be considered "Canada's team," the title hasn't led to an increase in hockey tourists to the city, said Jacques Burelle, president of Ottawa Tourism, save for the few Buffalo, New Jersey and Pittsburgh reporters booking nights in Ottawa hotels.

However, with every opponent the home side dispatched, Ottawa's recognition factor in North America went up an incalculable amount, he said.

"The number of tourists is negligible," he said. "(But) in terms of lifting the veil of secrecy about our city, it's not negligible.

Any time Ottawa is mentioned on television or in newspapers because of hockey, the image of Ottawa as "a stodgy, going-to-bed-at-five-o'clock city" changes, he said. "And that's important for us. That's the message we're putting out about us."

Every year, Ottawa Tourism scans the media world for mentions of Ottawa. Last year, some 200 stories were written about Ottawa, mostly tourism-related, which Mr. Burelle's organization pegs to be worth about $200 million.

Any additional mention of Bytown is a bonus, he said.

"The fact that we are written about – period – is significant in itself," he said. "The awareness level in the U.S., as you might appreciate, is not that high to begin with."

Back to the team, Mr. Leeder said any modest profit leftover is already accounted for.

"We've got a plan this year. We won't be able to do all the work we want to do. It's north of $3 million in upgrades to the building . . . maybe more restaurants, maybe some upgrades to our parking areas.

"(Mr. Melnyk) has really made a commitment to put the best possible team on the ice," he said. "He's not restricted by dollars; he's restricted by the salary cap.

"We're not the most expensive ticket, we're sort of average . . . The teams at the very bottom, they could go all the way and still not make money."