A look at the books

The great thing about most American junior hockey leagues being 501(c) organizations is that their annual IRS Form 990 tax filings are public information. So here are the most recently available filings for some of those leagues. These forms provide some rather interesting information about the revenues and expenditures of each league. I'm not going to make a lot of comments at this time about any particular league's filing. The posting of these forms may generate some controversy (no one likes being examined), so why am I doing this? First off, I'm a strong believer in transparency - I'd be surprised if many teams ever looked at the filings of their own leagues. I also believe these forms contain information that each league could find useful. I don't mean that in a political intelligence sense, but a "Best Practices" one. However, I will include the caveat that each league is different in the services they provide directly, as well as how they categorize and/or itemize their revenues and/or expenses. That said, I would caution anyone from jumping to conclusions. In addition, I'm also throwing in the Big 3 NCAA leagues, as well as the NHL and AHL, which recently switched their operations to 501(c)'s. Junior Leagues NAHL: 2004-05 EJHL: 2005-06 CSHL: 2004-05 MJHL: 2004-05 WSHL: 2004-05 College Leagues CCHA: 2004-05 WCHA: 2004-05 Hockey East: 2004-05 Pro Leagues NHL: 2004-05 AHL: 2004-05 In other news... IceDogs headed for Niagara Falls??? OHL All-Star Festival rolls out the red carpet in Saginaw... CHL and NHL partnership to offer officiating development camp... Saskatoon Blades lose director of business operations...