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Football field.

Aka. Football field chart · valuation summary chart
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What is a football field?

A football field is the chart that sits at the front of almost every valuation deck. Each row is one methodology — trading comparables, precedent transactions, a discounted cash flow, an LBO analysis — drawn as a horizontal bar spanning the low-to-high range that method produces.

The name comes from the appearance: a stack of overlapping bars resembling the yard markers on a football field. Its job is to answer one question at a glance: across every reasonable lens, where does this business cluster in value?

Crucially, it shows ranges, not points. A credible valuation is not a single number; it is a band, and the football field makes the width of that band and the overlap between methods visible to a decision-maker in seconds.

How a football field is built

The chart is the output of the analysis underneath it. Each bar has to be defensible on its own.

  1. Run each methodology to a range. Comps and precedents give a low and high from the multiple range applied to the target's metric; the DCF gives a range from sensitizing the discount rate and terminal assumptions; the LBO gives the price a sponsor could pay at a target return.
  2. Convert everything to the same basis. Usually enterprise value, then bridged to equity value or per-share price so the bars are comparable.
  3. Plot the bars on a shared axis and overlay the current trading price or the offer on the table as a vertical reference line.
  4. Read the overlap. The zone where the bars converge is the implied fair-value range; methods that sit far outside it demand an explanation.

What it does and does not tell you

A good football field disciplines a negotiation: it shows whether an offer sits inside, above, or below the cluster of methods, and which approach is doing the heavy lifting. A board can see in one image whether a bid is full.

What it cannot do is make a decision for you. Bars can be widened or narrowed by choosing the multiple set or the discount rate, so the chart is only as honest as its inputs. Treat a suspiciously tight band, or one method conveniently propping up a desired price, as a prompt to look underneath the bars.

Frequently asked.

5 questions
01 Why is it called a football field?

Because the finished chart — a stack of overlapping horizontal range bars on a common axis — visually resembles the yard lines of an American football field. The name is purely descriptive; it carries no methodological meaning.

02 What methods usually appear on a football field?

The standard four are trading comparables, precedent transactions, discounted cash flow, and — in a sponsor context — an LBO or ability-to-pay analysis. Deals may add sum-of-the-parts, a 52-week trading range for public targets, or analyst price targets as additional bars.

03 Why show ranges instead of a single value?

Because no valuation method produces a single defensible number. Each rests on assumptions — the multiple, the discount rate, the exit — that move within a reasonable band. Showing the range is more honest than a false point estimate, and the overlap between methods is where the real signal lives.

04 How do you read a football field?

Look first at where the bars overlap — that convergence zone is the implied value range. Then locate the offer or current price relative to it. An offer above the overlap looks full; one below it looks light. Finally, check any bar that sits far from the cluster and ask what assumption is driving it.

05 Can a football field be manipulated?

Yes, which is why the inputs matter more than the picture. Picking a generous comp set, a low discount rate, or an aggressive exit multiple can stretch a bar to support a desired price. A football field is only credible when each bar traces back to assumptions you can interrogate — ideally still linked to the underlying model rather than frozen in a slide.

Keep every bar on the football field
traceable to the model that built it.

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