[Bcatswin]

Packers Rank As Best Franchise In Sports

Lambeau Field Experience Weighed Big In ESPN Magazine Rankings

Updated: 12:43 pm CDT June 15, 2011



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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers are still coming off its Super Bowl high, but once again the team has earned another impressive title.
ESPN The Magazine’s ninth annual "Best Franchises In Sports" rankings put the Packers in the top spot.
The rankings are determined by a multi-tiered analysis that examines a team’s efficiency in spending fan money as compared to its on-field performance. It also factors in feedback in 21 categories from more than 70,000 fans nationwide, both online at ESPN.com and in polling conducted by both independent third parties.
The Packers were followed by the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning at No. 2 overall in the Best Franchise In Sports rankings. The NFL’s New Orleans Saints came in at No. 3, with Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at No. 4 and the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs at No. 5.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, who the Packers beat in the Super Bowl, finished No. 7 on the list.
In all, 122 teams from the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball were ranked in order, based on a weighted average of scores in eight different categories ranging from the quantitative to the emotionally subjective: bang for the buck, players, fan relations, affordability, stadium experience, ownership, title track and coaching.
The Packers were the top-scoring team in two of the eight categories, topping all other teams in stadium experience and tying for the top spot in title track -- championships won, or expected to be won, during the lifetime of current fans.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals finished No. 122 and the Washington Redskins were ranked No. 121.

[neverstoppers23]

I think that's bull shit. Its just the media love affair with Greenbay. They have always slurped green bay and will always slurp them. New York Yankees should top that list, no doubt.

[BIGDAY]

I go to Lambeau field ever year for the Vikings/Packers game. I'm a Vikings fan but if I had to go to one Vikings game all year... I'd go to Green bay. They're good fans also. As long as your fun-loving back! We RV it from MN, to be honest, the game is a 3 hour interuption of the fun!

[jollyoscars]

this article is absolute bs!

[Sunde91]

It is not close.

Most titles in NFL. Winning now and for years to come. Best fans and game atmosphere in US professional sports. Class organization owned by fans.

I think that's bull shit. Its just the media love affair with Greenbay. They have always slurped green bay and will always slurp them. New York Yankees should top that list, no doubt.

Did you read the article? Yankees are efficient at spending money? Stadium experience? Affordability? Ahahaahaha

[slacker00]

ESPN is becoming more irrelevant by the day.

They basically name the Super Bowl Champs to this award every single year and backfill a story to entertain the jock sniffers.

[Frostware]

Don't what that all really means, but I know it sucks for the Bengals.

[dabomguy11]

I'd have to believe that the fact that they are publicly owned played a role in it. Also, they are one of, if not the, most storied franchises in the NFL. I mean, the Super Bowl trophy is named after one of their former coaches.

[neverstoppers23]

Affordability is your criteria? LOL. Wow. I am sorry but I think higher priced tickets means your team is playing well, and is a big market so their is huge demand. I am not quite sure how in the hell you can even use that in anyway to name the number 1 franchise in America, I am not even sure why that matters?
Yankees have dominated the sport, they have had some of the greatest teams, they had the greatest owner, they had the best line up ever with Gehrig and Ruth. They changed and mapped baseball forever. Its just complete bull shit that they use this nostalgic way of thinking to shaft the Yankees.
More and more these lists that are one sports sites, and blogs. Are not pragmatic, statistical analyst . They are just brought up to create controversy and to make people go to the site.
This is the same for the media, when you see a story on the blog, the top 25 worsts movies. Or the top 25 number 1 hits.

[neverstoppers23]

I'd have to believe that the fact that they are publicly owned played a role in it. Also, they are one of, if not the, most storied franchises in the NFL. I mean, the Super Bowl trophy is named after one of their former coaches.

Its not truly publicly owned in the truest sense. The people with the stock can't sell it, they can only pass it on to their relatives. And I am not even sure they make money on said stock.

[mdemps9190]

I fully understand the Packers being # 1, but the LIGHTNING and the ANGELS? Red sox, Celtics, YANKEES, LAKERS, STEELERS, COWBOYS, PATRIOTS...?

[ByeShea]

Dig the Lightning at No. 2.

Recognize, bitches.

[brooks85]

haha thats funny, bungals last.

God dam i hate you mike brown.

[blackbart]

lighting at two, that is just crazy talk

[frostno98]

I think Mark Cuban is the greatest owner to play for. This guy as wealthy as he is, is really down to earth.

[blackbox]

Can understand Green Bay to their past history- however The Yankees stand mighty tall.

[muldoon]

Pretty subjective to label a franchise "best". Lightning attendance dropped 4 years in a row heading into this season. Couple bad years and they'll be on the moving block like Atlanta was.

[the_situation]

whaaa Lightning at 2? pretty brutal list

[darrell74]

For the record:
ESPN is phucking retarded.

[darrell74]

Tampa Lightning headed into the right direction with a new GM, new ownership, and creating ways to get fans in to the arena-but they're not a #2-no phuckin way!

Green Bay plays in a meat locker. They have security issues which they shouldn't with a town of 17,000. Away teams always grumble about the poor conditions of their locker rooms.
Its also a tradition that fans moon the away team's busses as they leave the stadium.
Hardly a #1 franchise.

Saints #3-why? They had to eventually win sometime.
Tell me why they're better ran than the Steelers, Cowboys, or even Baltimore.

Angels #4 is not even #4 in Southern Cal.
Theirs more Dodgers fans than angel fans.
If the Dodgers didn't have so many Vatos rolling in and causing violence, then the Angels would have less fans.

[Art Vandeleigh]

this article is absolute bs!

Tampa Bay Lighting number 2???

Ha ha ha, good one, this article is such a waste of perfectly good pixels on my screen.

[dynamite140]

[darren125]

Most of this stuff is all subjective. Number of championships, no, but fan experience, come on. You can't weigh that. I've never been, but I'm guessing Lambeau wouldn't be #1 stadium experience in my book.

[ByeShea]

ESPN is becoming more irrelevant by the day.

I am with you.

I have a friend who works for espn and I broach this subject very carefully because he's drunk on the espn kool-aid.

He claims espn's main competition is facebook and google and that they don't even think about yahoo sports or cbssports. Yet he also acknowledges 80% of espn traffic visits for sports scores.

I just don't visit espn at all. And their TV presence is just gay.

From a betting perspective there must be a way to arbitrage whatever garbage idiots are being spoonfed on SportsCenter.

[VegasInsider]

List is bullshit. I don't have a problem with the Packers being #1, but no way the Redskins are the 2nd worst franchise in all of sport. It should be impossible for an NFL team to be last, considering they have the best fan base in all of sports.

[obamaismyuncle]

The rankings are determined by a multi-tiered analysis that examines a team’s efficiency in spending fan money as compared to its on-field performance.

[jat5650]

Given the structure of the Packer organization and their ownership (and speaking from my bias) the Packers are deserving to be recognized
as number 1. You only have to look at their following on a national level.

GO Pack

[Wiggums5]

what kind of retard made this ranking

[onlooker]

Where are the Canucks after the Stanley Cup?

Do riots factor into the rankings?

[slacker00]

I am with you.

I have a friend who works for espn and I broach this subject very carefully because he's drunk on the espn kool-aid.

He claims espn's main competition is facebook and google and that they don't even think about yahoo sports or cbssports. Yet he also acknowledges 80% of espn traffic visits for sports scores.

I just don't visit espn at all. And their TV presence is just gay.

From a betting perspective there must be a way to arbitrage whatever garbage idiots are being spoonfed on SportsCenter.

The TV stuff is absolute garbage and I just sigh when I have to watch MNF through these idiots. I don't even have cable anymore, but I was at a place last night that was running ESPN and I can't believe how they can actually get worse and worse. Bloggers I read say that ESPN doesn't even really cover UFC, which blows my mind because it's maybe the biggest growing sport right now.

If I do a general web search for a sports article, if it's from ESPN I skip it entirely. It's always garbage. I'm not a huge fan of yahoo or CBSsports either but at least it's better than ESPN. there are independant bloggers that are much better as far as giving the straight shit with intelligent & original insight because their content isn't packed full of mainstreamed corporatized sanitized meaninglessness.

[QuangX]

49ers

[qsilver335]

I know the Lightning are a great organization and they do a lot for the community in Tampa, but number 2 is a little surprising.

[lakerboy]

this list is a joke. angels and lightning on this list makes it a joke

[Manaconda]

hack writer

[arnoldrothstein]

Pittsburgh steelers#1