Leicester City Entered Season at 5000-1 To Win
Published on February 13th, 2016 12:10 pm ESTEntering the 2015-16 English Premier League season, nobody expected Leicester City to come even close to winning the title. As a matter of fact, most sports books had Leicester at roughly 3/1 to be relegated at the end of the season.
Heading into this current season, Leicester City was 5000/1 to win the English Premier League title at William Hill, which is one of the world's leading sports books. Now, with 13 games left in the season and with Leicester maintaining a 5 point lead at the top of the table, the surprising club is 9/4 to win, just behind Arsenal at 2/1.
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According to ESPN.com, a win for Leicester City this season would result in the biggest long shot victory in the recorded history of sports. There is no precedent.
ESPN.com states that the biggest long shot victory prior to this season occurred when the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series in 2011. With 15 games left in the season, the Cardinals were 999/1 to win the World Series at most Las Vegas sports books. The Cardinals mounted a furious rally, passing the Atlanta Braves and sneaking into the playoffs. The Cardinals' dream season continued in the post-season after they managed to top the Texas Rangers to win the World Series.
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What makes the Leicester City run even more incredible is the fact that their club salary is so incredibly low compared to their competition.
Chelsea, which is having a terrible season, entered this year with total wages of over 215 million pounds. They were followed by Manchester United (£203 million) and Manchester City (£193.8 million). All three clubs have massive revenue bases and can certainly afford to dole out hundreds of millions of pounds in wages.
Leicester City, led by Jamie Vardy, entered this season with a total wage bill of less than 50 million pounds, the 17th highest total in the league.
It's one thing to outperform a team or two while sitting near the bottom of the barrel when it comes to club wages - it's another thing altogether to outperform every single team in the league this far into the season. There is really no precedent for what Leicester City is doing right now.
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Will Leicester City be able to pull off the fairy tale ending and capture the English Premier League title?
Would you really bet against them at this point?
Source: ESPN.com - The Longest Shots
