The Bangbuck Index: The Only Thing That Makes Livin’ In Detroit Bearable
Everyone that identifies as a “die-hard” hockey fan has been putting their blood, sweat and tears into their team for what feels like a lifetime, but have you ever wondered what the team is giving back in return? Sometimes fans are rewarded, like the hockey fans in Carolina. (I’m not being facetious! Put this season aside and look at their last 10 or so years.) Still bitter over the loss of the Whale? Maybe you should consider getting over it. Not only does Carolina rate well on the cost of living vs. household income scale, but in the past decade this frequent dark horse team has managed to pull off two Conference championships and a Stanley Cup victory.
Sometimes your team loyalty makes a nice trade-off for where you’re forced to call home. Example: Where do you not want to live right now? If for some reason you didn’t say “Detroit,” it’s probably because you missed the boat by a couple years and still think the correct answer is “New Jersey.” (Half-credit for Jersey, by the way.) But then which two NHL teams are the only multiple-Cup winners in the past 10 years? It’s not a trick question…
So by taking a look at each NHL city’s average household income, Cost of Living Index, average ticket price, and “payoff” in terms of post-season appearances, Stanley Cup Finals appearance and, of course, Stanley Cup Championships, we at SportScape have come with not necessarily an ordered list of the “best” teams, but a list of the best teams for your money. Call it the Bangbuck Index. I mean, you can call it whatever you’d like – we’re calling it the Bangbuck Index and you might want to join in so everyone doesn’t get confused.
We’re looking only at the last 10 years – the time that all current teams were in the league, and also to keep it relevant. No one feels like they’re getting a better deal being a Senators fan because they won four Cups in the ’20s.
Check our work, here’s the formula:
(((Average Household Income / (Cost of Living / 100)) / 12)/Average Ticket Price) *((1 + (playoff appearance + SC Finals appearance + SC Champions))/100) = Amount of “bang” for a buck; where playoff appearance = 1, SC Finals appearance = 2 and SC Champions = 5*
Got all that? On to the Bangbuck Index
1 Carolina Hurricanes = 14.63 – bang for your buck
2 New Jersey Devils = 13.29
3 Detroit Red Wings = 12.55
4 Colorado Avalanche = 12.05
5 Tampa Bay Lightning = 10.89 - it’s true!
6 Anaheim Ducks = 10.55
7 Ottawa Senators = 9.12 – Canada makes an appearance
8 Dallas Stars = 8.32
9 San Jose Sharks = 6.95
10 Pittsburgh Penguins = 6.91 – a little premature ticket inflation?
11 Calgary Flames = 6.79
12 St. Louis Blues = 4.68
13 Vancouver Canucks = 4.52
14 Edmonton Oilers = 4.24
15 Philadelphia Flyers = 3.50
16 Nashville Predators = 3.47
17 Montreal Canadiens = 3.40
18 Washington Capitals = 3.19 – this year could help them move up
19 Boston Bruins = 3.00
20 New York Islanders = 2.91
21 Buffalo Sabres = 2.69
22 New York Rangers = 2.55
23 Minnesota Wild = 2.00**
24 Chicago Blackhawks = 1.94 - It all rides on this year…
25 Phoenix Coyotes = 1.89
26 Toronto Maple Leafs = 1.76
27 L.A. Kings = 1.59
28 Columbus Blue Jackets = 1.50
29 Atlanta Thrashers = 1.45
30 Florida Panthers = 0.51 – Official “at least we’re not the…” team of the NHL!
* Sources for income and Cost of Living and other stats include state and national censuses, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, NHL.com for ticket prices and various Canadian sources. Take the Canadian info with a grain of salt as we couldn’t always verify the accuracy of info or if the numbers used had been converted to USD or not.
** Minnesota Wild did not play in the 1999-2000 season, the first year taken into our standings. We apologize to Wild fans, but at the same time doubt the extra year would have affected much.
_________________
Photos courtesy of Flickr
Leave a Reply
