The Kontinental Hockey League was in the black for the '14-15 season, the first time the league has turned in a profit since it was formed in '08. A KHL spokesperson told SBD Global that the exact profit figure is to be announced at an annual shareholders meeting next month, but it is already known that the KHL will distribute roughly 100M rubles ($2M), collected in TV rights fees,among its 28 squads -- for the first time in the league's history. "Considerable economy was achieved in the 2014-2015 season thanks to budget optimization," the spokesperson said, adding that extra revenues were also generated due to new sponsorship agreements. Under the profit distribution scheme adopted by the KHL, 40% of the 100M ruble figure is to be distributed equally between all KHL squads, another 30% based on viewers' interest in their games, and the remaining 30% based on the squads' performance. The '14-15 season was the seventh for the KHL. At the beginning of the season, the league, with an annual budget is 1.5B rubles ($30M), had projected losses of 108M rubles ($2.2M) rather than a profit.
Vladimir Kozlov is a writer in Moscow.
