In the conversation about the Vengeance, it got me thinking about the nonprofit status for most of the local hockey associations.  Since their information is publicly available, I did a little digging to compare their revenue/expense numbers using the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer with their most recently reported year (most of these are from 2024 or 2025).  Just wanted to share this with everyone. Not an exhaustive list, but interesting to compare.

TEAM	ORGANIZATION NAME	REVENUE	EXPENSES
Pittsburgh Penguins Elite	Pittsburgh Penguins Elite Amateur Hockey	$3,297,413	$3,218,866
North Pittsburgh	North Pittsburgh Youth Hockey Association	$1,433,099	$1,324,235
Pittsburgh Predators	Pittsburgh Amateur Predators Hockey Association	$1,288,088	$1,159,056
South Pittsburgh Rebellion	South Pittsburgh Hockey Club (Southpointe Amateur Hockey Association?)	$1,148,202	$1,228,401
Allegheny Badgers	Allegheny Hockey Association	$1,084,684	$1,110,404
Pittsburgh Stars	North Hills Amateur Hockey Association	$1,024,105	$988,444
South Hills Panthers	South Hills Amateur Hockey Association	$901,328	$833,068
Pittsburgh Aviators	Pittsburgh Aviators Hockey Association	$415,386	$377,532
Icemen	Butler Valley Youth Hockey Association	$316,274	$337,334

Clearly the Pens way outpace everyone else locally when it comes to revenue and expenses.  I was curious to see how they compared to some other teams across the country (that are nonprofit).  Just a smattering of some hockey teams:

TEAM	ORGANIZATION NAME	REVENUE	EXPENSES
Chicago Mission	Chicago Mission AAA Hockey	$3,366,201	$3,443,223
Pittsburgh Penguins Elite	Pittsburgh Penguins Elite Amateur Hockey	$3,297,413	$3,218,866
Team Illinois	Team Illinois Hockey Club	$2,896,956	$3,292,143
Ohio Blue Jackets	Ohio Youth Hockey Association	$2,748,966	$2,505,279
Chicago Reapers	Reapers Hockey Association	$2,553,988	$2,697,872
Boston Junior Eagles	Boston Junior Eagles	$2,319,290	$2,188,233
Dallas Stars Elite	Dallas Stars Elite Hockey Club	$2,258,971	$2,238,301
Little Caesars	Little Caesars AAA Hockey Club	$2,221,083	$1,825,833
Woodbridge Wolfpack	Woodbridge Wolfpack	$1,943,198	$1,851,484
Cleveland Barons	Ohio Junior Hockey Association?	$1,803,499	$1,775,622
Oakland Jr Grizzlies	Oakland Jr Grizzlies Hockey Club	$421,316	$425,500

 

I could be wrong about some of the association names, not always easy to track down. Still, Pens seem really up there with their expenses (and revenue to cover it). I wonder what all of those expenses are for teams like the Pens and Mission.

EDIT:

Nevermind, I found the information on their form 990.  Pens expenses, mostly in the "Other" category:

Ice Rental Fees: $1,161,419

Coaching Expenses: $509,190

Clothing and Uniforms: $288,586

Tournament Fees: $268,223

All other expenses: $723,261

Not sure what constitutes "all other expenses," but that's just from a casual quick glance. For comparison, here's how North Pittsburgh lines it out:

Ice Time - Travel Team: $1,024,945

Ice Time - Development: $116,369

EMTs and Referees: $89,331

Tryout Expense: $16,629

All other expenses: $31,074

That "All other expenses" bucket is quite large at the Pens.

Also, by comparison, Chicago Mission has a more detailed expense breakout.  They have salaries and wages of about $480,490 (Pens have zero, mostly because I assume they are all employees of the Pittsburgh Penguins directly, but have Coaching Expenses under other?).  They also have an Occupancy expense listed as $861,614 (rent?). Their other expenses are:

Program Related Costs (maybe ice time?): $1,674,282

Bank Charges: $61,971

Utilities: $9,405

Misc.: $9,108

All other expenses: $500

Anyway, I digress.  I just find that all interesting.  I'm not going to deep dive into everything, but 22% of the Pens expenses just being listed as "other" seems like an outlier to me.

Edited April 15Apr 15 by Duck Bill

Now do MidAms and ask your self "why do they have over $1,000,000 in assets.  Or PAHL and ask "why is 50% of revenue paid out in salaries? Why does the Director claim 60 hours per week, but have a full time job and is the Commissioner of 2 other leagues?"

I will give credit to the organizations that keep their non-profit status current though. At least it forces them to be somewhat transparent with their funds.  If you're playing for an organization who does not hold a legitimate non-profit status, you have to wonder where the money is truly going.

On 4/15/2026 at 3:52 PM, theyrekids said:

Now do MidAms and ask your self "why do they have over $1,000,000 in assets.  Or PAHL and ask "why is 50% of revenue paid out in salaries? Why does the Director claim 60 hours per week, but have a full time job and is the Commissioner of 2 other leagues?"

I will give credit to the organizations that keep their non-profit status current though. At least it forces them to be somewhat transparent with their funds.  If you're playing for an organization who does not hold a legitimate non-profit status, you have to wonder where the money is truly going.

Those are great questions