Tom Dundon paid $420 million for a majority stake in the Carolina Hurricanes in January 2018. At the time, Forbes valued the franchise at just $230 million. To many, it looked like a significant overpayment for a team that had missed the playoffs for nine consecutive seasons, averaged roughly 13,000 fans per home game, and ranked last in franchise value across the NHL. The numbers were accurate. The conclusion was not.
What Dundon bought was control of the only major league sports franchise in a market that was growing rapidly and had not yet fully reflected this growth in its sports valuations. While most people focused on the Hurricanes’ on-ice struggles, Dundon focused on the long term potential of Raleigh and the broader Triangle region. In hindsight, the investment case was never really about the team. It was about the market surrounding it.
This distinction explains much of what followed. Three months before winning the Stanley Cup, Tom sold a 12.5% stake in the franchise at a valuation of $2.66 billion. Since the acquisition, season ticket revenue has increased 227%, corporate sponsorship revenue has increased 168%, and suite rental revenue has nearly quadrupled. These numbers tell the real story. The Stanley Cup win validated what the team had built on the ice, but most of the value was created long before the championship through stronger sponsorships, higher ticket sales, growing demand, and the rise of the Raleigh market. The Hurricanes became more valuable because Raleigh became more valuable, and Tom positioned himself at the centre of that growth long before most people recognised it.
365247 Sports goes inside the business of Carolina Hurricanes….
While the Hurricanes were underperforming on the ice and commercially, Raleigh and the broader Triangle were growing into one of the strongest markets in the United States. Between 2019 and 2023, the region’s GDP grew 39%. By 2026, the Milken Institute ranked Raleigh as the best performing large metropolitan area in the country. Apple chose the Triangle for its East Coast hub, Lenovo maintained its dual headquarters in Morrisville, and Fortune 500 companies continued expanding across the region.