Football Field Chart Excel Template
March 6, 2023
What is a football field?
A football field is a way to quickly visualize lots of valuation data in and simple way. The accompanying video on this page takes you through the build, and there is a free football field template download to speed things up.
Key Learning Point
- Football fields help to value companies.
- They bring together lots of valuation methods in a simple, easy-to-read chart.
- Building a quick and simple football field can be relatively straightforward – if you know how.
Does it have anything to do with football?
Unfortunately, not. In the chart above, the horizontal value bars and the vertical gridlines look a bit like American footballers on a gridiron football pitch, although most banker football fields don’t include the vertical gridlines anymore, for a cleaner look.
What is a football field used for?
When an investment bank is asked to value a company, a huge pitchbook may be created, but it is often summarized in this chart. In client meetings, an hour-long discussion could focus just on the contents of the football field!
The football field shows how much the company is worth as a standalone business (which is useful for people wanting to buy a small stake) and how much it is worth in a takeover (useful for those wanting a controlling stake). It brings together all of the valuation techniques that the bank has used to value a particular company.
The methods used in our chart include:
- Trading comparables (otherwise known as trading comps, comparable analysis, or common stock comparison)
- Discounted cash flow (DCF, net present value, or NPV)
- 52-week high-low share price
- Transaction comparable (or transaction comps, or deal comps)
- Premium paid
- DCF with synergies
Creating the football field chart
A football field chart is created using the horizontal stacked bar chart in Excel. Watch the accompanying video to see how to build a quick and simple football field. Follow along with the steps yourself using our downloadable Football Field Chart Template.
Football Field Valuation Certificate
If you are interested in this topic, look for our Football Field Valuation Certificate which reviews the different valuation methods, prepares valuation ranges for each valuation method, summarizes the valuation ranges, and interprets the results.
Conclusion
Football field charts are a straightforward way to visualize a company’s value. Building a chart initially looks complicated, but with practice becomes much more straightforward.