Report calculates pro sports teams’ cost per win
Just days after "Vikings Week" at the Capitol and the start of the Christian Ponder era at the Metrodome, Bloomberg Businessweek is weighing in on the NFL. And pro baseball, hockey and basketball to boot.
It's mostly a paen to Mark Murphy, "Green Bay's Beloved CEO."
But it wouldn't be a sports issue without a ranking, and sadly, it isn't just limited to Green Bay or even football.
The magazine came up with an "efficiency index" for all 122 pro sports franchises in the U.S.
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"By culling payroll data from reported sources and pairing them with wins and losses over the last five seasons, we calculated the average cost per win in each league. Based on that number, we measured (by standard deviation) how far each team varied above or below the league norm. The result is a cross-sport rating of how every U.S. franchise compares to its peers in squeezing wins from money. We call it the Efficiency Index."
In some measures, the Twin Cities are a middle-of-the-pack sports town. Both the Minnesota Wild and the Minnesota Twins rank above the median, at 56 and 55, respectively. They both fall on the "efficient" side of the ledger.
The Vikings do, too. But they're at the back of the pack -- literally and figuratively. They rank 68th on the list. And they're better than at least 13 other NFL franchises, including the heretofore hapless Detroit Lions, which came in dead last among all pro sports.
And the Timberwolves...Oh, the Timberwolves. They're 119th on the list for cost per win, below the entire NHL and better only than the Knicks in the NBA.
But at least we can say there is ONE Minnesota team that can beat the Yankees.