The New York Knicks just got done winning on the road in Milwaukee, despite J.R. Smith‘s upchuck-inducing amount of three-point chucking, and the air-headed decision by Andrea Bargnani to shoot the ball when a win had already been sealed with a rebound. They’re one of the worst NBA franchises, particularly from a leadership standpoint, and now comes some evidence they’re the costliest mess New York has produced in a year of epic New York City sports failures.
Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post, ranked all of the New York Sports team with something he calls, “Fan Cost Index” (FCI). The FCI, “Calculates four average-price tickets, two small draft beers, four small soft drinks, four regular-size hot dogs, parking for one car, two game programs and two modestly-priced souvenirs.”
The list features all the major New York sports teams in the NFL, MLB, NHL and the NBA. Guess who finished dead last on Vaccaro’s list? If you live in New York, and you attend Knicks games on the regular,* this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Knicks were ranked at the bottom, as the costliest, least bang-for-your-buck professional sports team in New York:
9. Knicks, FCI: $643.78. But look at what you get for your dough: no championships since 1973 (and counting), no appearances in the Finals since 1999, seven playoff wins since 2001, eight wins in 25 games so far this year … for seats that cost exactly what an apartment in downtown Milwaukee costs, on average, for a month.
What does it say that when we read this, we weren’t blown away by the cost of attending a Knicks game, but by the cheap digs in downtown Milwaukee?
You can go check out how the rest of the New York sports teams ranked (the top 3 from top-to-bottom: Mets, Devils, Yankees) but we’re gonna count the money in our change jar right now and look at real estate listings in Milwaukee.
*I’ve lived in New York for more than five years in all sorts of locales (E. Harlem, Brooklyn, UES, Westchester, various couches) with largely a freelance writing budget that forced me — until recently — to scrimp to get by. As a result, I’ve never been able to afford a Knicks ticket that didn’t come gratis as a gift, or for work. This doesn’t really bother me as much as you might guess.
Are the Knicks now the worst team to root for in New York?
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