Smart money’s on Seattle, says Forbes

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, February 1, 2006

While fellow Herald blogger Victor Balta wanders around Canada http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/02/02/100loc_a1balta001.cfm, here at home we’ve got the REALLY big Super Bowl news — Forbes.com says the Seahawks will win. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11147015/

Is it the dominating offensive line? The league’s best pass rush? MVP Shaun Alexander? Of course not — the value of the Seahawks franchise is greater than that of the Steelers, $183 million to $180 million.

Key Quote: “Since we started valuing NFL franchises in 1998, the Super Bowl winner has always been the more valuable franchise each year. This includes 2002 and 2003, when the winning team was the underdog. This is the smallest spread yet in franchise value between the two Super Bowl teams. So if history repeats, that $3 million or 0.36 percent difference in franchise value means that Pittsburgh’s bus will be out of gas after three straight road playoff games.”