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Leafs fans may whine, boo, and toss their jerseys – but they also keep paying the highest prices, by far, to watch the team lose. Despite being one of the worst-performing teams in the league, the Leafs are the most valuable in the NHL, with Forbes estimating they’re worth $1.6 billion.

Greg MacDonald, a telecommunications analyst with Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd., said there’s nothing quite like the Leafs in the world of business.

You can put up a sub-par product for periods of time and still have almost guaranteed (revenues)

“It’s unique to business overall,” MacDonald said. “You can put up a sub-par product for periods of time and still have almost guaranteed (revenues).

Rival telecommunications companies Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. teamed up in 2012 to buy a 75% stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., the private company that owns the Leafs as well as the Toronto Raptors and the Air Canada Centre where they play, from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. At $1.07 billion, MLSE didn’t come cheap, and neither did the 12-year, $5.2 billion deal Rogers signed for NHL broadcast and multimedia rights starting this past season.

Spokespeople for Rogers and BCE referred questions about the Leafs’ performance to MLSE and a spokesman for MLSE said the organization was unable to comment by deadline. MLSE doesn’t disclose its revenue, but Forbes estimates the Leafs generate $230 million annually.

About 90% of the seats at Leafs games are occupied by season ticket holders and 99% of them renew those tickets each year. According to event ticket aggregator TiqIQ, Leafs fans paid an average of $373.50 for those few remaining single-game tickets on the secondary market last season, about $90 more than they paid to see the Vancouver Canucks, the NHL’s second-most expensive team.