ESPN The Magazine released its annual “Ultimate Standings” on Tuesday, which rates all 122 franchises in the four major sports leagues: MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL. Not surprisingly, Philadelphia’s teams did not fare well.
Over a full calendar year has passed since any of the big four made the playoffs, so the rankings are justifiable. The Eagles came in the highest at 79th, just two spots ahead of the Flyers, while the Phillies are 118th – 20 spots worse than the 76ers, and only five places out from the very bottom.
The fact that the Philly sports scene hasn’t been very good is not news. However, the Ultimate Standings measures organizations in eight different areas, and one of the common themes for all four was fans are paying a steep price to feel disappointed.
79. Eagles (Affordability: 89th; Bang for the buck: 86th)
Fans aren't that enthusiastic about the experience at Lincoln Financial Field, either, ranking it 85th. That could be because the price per capita of attending an Eagles game, $133.36, was the league's seventh highest, an increase of 9.1 percent from the previous season.
81. Flyers (Affordability: 85th; Bang for the buck: 107th)
Two of their worst showings were related to their rising costs, though: Affordability remained in the bottom third of all teams, flirting with triple digits at 95th, and bang for the buck dropped all the way to No. 107 (down 24 spots from last year). The Flyers boast the seventh-most expensive ticket in the NHL, up another 7 percent from last year. After a season in which the team missed the playoffs, fans are understandably let down.
MLB
98. Sixers (Affordability: 63rd; Bang for the buck: 106th)
All that is to say, not shockingly, much of the life has been sucked out of the Wells Fargo Center, which has finished near the bottom of the league in attendance the past two seasons. And despite a relatively respectable showing in affordability (No. 63), the Sixers' fan cost per season increased by 6.2 percent -- more than three times the NBA average. So the team's bang for the buck? Holding strong in the sub-100s for the second straight year.
118. Phillies (Affordability: 104th; Bang for the buck: 112th)
They hung onto Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and other fading franchise mainstays for too long. They've also drafted poorly and been slow to develop the requisite young talent to keep pace in the NL East. No surprise, then, that fans labeled the Phillies the worst in sports in "getting the most out of the money they spend."
The standings have a lot more to say about the Philadelphia franchises, grading in areas such as title track, coaching, players, fan relations and stadium experience as well. Needless to say, the teams didn’t do very well in most of those other areas, either.
Still, it’s interesting to see how the city compares to the rest of professional sports. Unfortunately, at the moment, all we can say is not very well.