49ers Named the Worst Pro Sports Franchise By ESPN
Splice Today ^ | October 24, 2016 | Chris Beck
Posted on 10/24/2016, 11:58:14 AM
Fans of American professional sports can easily reel off teams when asked to name the worst franchises in all of sports. Hockey’s Toronto Maple Leafs and the NFL’s New York Jets are two contenders, as are Michael Jordan's Charlotte Bobcats and MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who’d put the San Francisco 49ers on such a list, as they're one of the most storied franchises in NFL history, but ESPN just named them the worst franchise in all of sports. Number 122 out of 122.
This is tough for us 49ers fans to swallow. We know all about all the team’s recent misfires and performance problems, and the Niners are perhaps the worst team in the NFL this season, but we're now to believe that even perennial laughingstock franchises like the Edmonton Oilers and the Cleveland Browns are superior to the team that's won five Super Bowls and played in one as recently as 2013?
My first reaction was to examine ESPN’s methodology. I saw that “bang for the buck” was important criteria, meaning that the team’s winning percentage is compared to its ticket prices. San Francisco charges top dollar for an inferior product at its new billion-dollar stadium in Santa Clara, but this isn't of much concern to those who watch the games on television. If this, where the team is ranked at 113, were removed, the 49ers would at least he bumped above the very bottom position...
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