According to Forbes this month, the Philadelphia Eagles are the fastest growing team brand in the NFL.  The Eagles achieved the feat by doubling their brand value over the past 3 years. 

So how’d they do it?

The Forbes article mentions the removal of Terrell Owens as the main reason for this rapid growth. 

“Bad-boy receiver Terrell Owens was shipped out to the Dallas Cowboys before last season, allowing the fans and media to focus on quarterback and team leader Donovan McNabb, one of the league’s best people and images. This was a smart business move by Eagles owner Jeff Lurie, because McNabb will continue to get the City of Brotherly Love plenty of positive media attention and help the team sell lots of merchandise.”

Am I supposed to be naive enough to think that removing TO caused a DOUBLING of the Eagles brand value?! That’s INSANE. If anything TO boosted the hell out of their jersey sales upon his arrival.  Sure, he was unceremoniously shown out of town - but lets not forget that the team has absolutely owned the NFC East for the past 4 seasons, put on a recent run to the Super Bowl (a run they made WITH Owens), and all-in-all been a financially sound franchise for the past 10 years. 

Oh - and what about the McNabb injury midway through last season? And then his impending media blackout? That really put him at the forefront of the “brand” right? Or what about in April when the Eagles drafted Kevin Kolb to be McNabb’s replacement? Another move to put McNabb at the forefront…

I can’t really dispute the facts of the article - that the Eagles are a rapidly growing brand - but the assumptions they seem to be making are terrible inaccurate.

And yes, I am ready for some football.

Full article here.