Turns Out My Home Team is Not a Great Value

When you come from Baltimore you learn to deal with poor impressions of your city. Watchers of Homicide, The Corner and The Wire think it’s a city of criminals and deadbeats. (David Simon, the writer of all of those, is a brilliant asset to the city; his subjects just happen to be dark.) Those familiar with John Waters think it’s a city of eccentrics. But at least it's got a low cost of living and the Orioles, right?

Well, as it turns out based on a visualization published in the WSJ Daily Fix, we may not even have that. The O's fall well below the American League value trendline based on win-percent and average Fan Cost Index.

Ellie Fields
2009/09/22

When you come from Baltimore you learn to deal with poor impressions of your city. Watchers of Homicide, The Corner and The Wire think it’s a city of criminals and deadbeats. (David Simon, the writer of all of those, is a brilliant asset to the city; his subjects just happen to be dark.) Those familiar with John Waters think it’s a city of eccentrics. But at least it's got a low cost of living and the Orioles, right?

Well, as it turns out based on a visualization published in the WSJ Daily Fix, we may not even have that. The O's fall well below the American League value trendline based on win-percent and average Fan Cost Index.

Baseball Fan Cost Index
Baseball Fan Cost Index

The Fan Cost Index is published by Team Marketing Report. It takes into account a number of prices, from tickets to hot dogs, to figure out what a normal fan might pay to see a game.

What’s the deal with the Baltimore Orioles? Well, it’s not that expensive to go to an Orioles game, but the fact of the matter is they haven’t been winning all that much. In fact, they haven’t won much since 1983, when they beat the Phillies for the World Series.

It might not change anyone's favorite team, but baseball fans will enjoy exploring the data. Though in this case I’d rather not know that my Orioles aren’t earning their hot dog money.

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