ESPN // The Franchise Rankings

ESPN’s Ultimate Standings evaluate which professional franchises truly give back to their fans- emotionally and financially, as well as on the field, court or ice-and which are merely sponging off the family. Not just in one league, not simply Red Wings vs. Avs or Raiders vs. Broncos, but across all four major pro sports.

Each year, ESPN enlists the Warsaw Sports Marketing MBA program at the University of Oregon to crunch the numbers resulting in a ”Bang for the Buck” value - how efficiently teams have converted dollars received directly from fans into on-field wins over the past three seasons. We started with the average cost of a ticket for a full season- including seat licenses but excluding luxury boxes-then added prices for parking, food, beverages, programs and hats. (Surveys show that, on average, fans buy one hot dog, one beer, one soda and one program per game and one hat per season.) Also factored in: per capita local taxes dedicated to sports projects. Finally, we adjusted the results to reflect varying costs of living.

Role: MBA Research Project
Client: ESPN