Smartest Spenders in Sports 2014

Which sports franchises get the biggest bang for their bucks (you lose, Cubs)
by
Ira Boudway
and
Evan Applegate
*Some teams appear to be tied because of rounding, but no teams have the same score. Data: USA Today, The Guardian, Yahoo Sports, Baseball-Reference.com, Basketball-Reference.com, Hockey-Reference.com, Jeff Kramer, CapGeek, Osmguy.com

Our ranking of all 122 franchises in the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB rates teams based on how much they spent in player payroll for every win during the last five seasons. Each team is compared against the average price per win in its league to produce a score we call the efficiency index. The less a team spends compared with its peers, the lower its score. Playoff victories and championships get extra weight. Payroll data come from the best available published sources.*

Playoff wins count for 10 percent of a season (e.g., 16.2 wins in baseball); Wild Card wins get half credit.
 
Championships count for 50 percent of a season (81 wins in baseball).

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