Unlike recent years, the Avalanche is a “cap team” again, one with a payroll coming close to the NHL’s $69 million cap ceiling for the 2014-15 season. Under the ownership of the Kroenke family, led by Stan and son Josh, the Avs’ cap-averaged payroll entering Wednesday was $67,279,762 — up about $15 million from the highest it got last season.

What might surprise fans is that the Kroenkes agreed to substantially increase payroll despite the Avs being in the bottom five of the NHL in ticket revenues last season, at about $26 million. The Avs’ ticket revenue was low enough that it qualified for the NHL’s revenue-sharing plan, a complicated formula that helps buffer teams whose revenues dip for whatever reason. Several years of losing teams saw Avs attendance slide, and while the team is a winner again and season-ticket sales have improved from last year, some of the financial aftereffects of the losing years are still being felt.

That is why Avalanche executive vice president of hockey operations Joe Sakic is both thankful to the Kroenkes and hoping fans will reciprocate by coming out to games more often this season.

“No one wants to win a championship more than Stan and Josh,” Sakic said. “We’re a cap team now, despite us being in the bottom five of the league in ticket revenue. Even knowing that, they still want to win a championship and gave us the green light to do whatever we can to make this team win.”

The Avalanche finished 22nd in the NHL in average attendance last season, at 16,295 per game — up from the previous season’s 15,444. But the average ticket price for an Avs game last season, according to Team Marketing Report, was $40.62 — well under the league average of $61.62.

How much the Avs received from the NHL as part of the revenue-sharing plan, the team and league would not say. Teams with dire financial conditions in recent years, such as the Phoenix Coyotes, reportedly have received as much as $18 million in revenue-sharing for single seasons. The Avs said they have increased their season-ticket base from last season, which they would not disclose. Two NHL sources put it at around 6,500.

In the Avs’ glory days of the 1990s and early 2000s, a waiting list to buy season tickets numbered in the thousands, and the team sold out an NHL record 487 consecutive games from 1995-2006.

“I don’t think you always have to spend to a certain amount to prove you want to win a championship. It’s how you allocate your dollars,” Sakic said. “Patty (Roy) and I felt last year that’s what we needed to spend to be competitive on the ice. This year, it’s this much. It could be different in another year.”

Adrian Dater: adater@denverpost.com or twitter.com/adater