ESPN.com has released their annual Ultimate Team Rankings and there’s a very familiar team near the top of the list. The Tampa Bay Lightning were ranked sixth out of the 122 NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB teams in North America. (Photo/Susan Ferlita)
The list details how the rankings were determined on ESPN.com :
First: Consulting firm Maddock Douglas surveyed 1,002 North American fans to form 25 criteria for what you want most in return for the emotion, money and time you invest in the 122 MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL teams.
Second: Teaming with NetReflector, an opinion research firm, ESPN.com asked fans to rate their home teams in each area; more than 101,000 of you did! We grouped grades into the categories below. Royals fans, for example, ranked Kauffman Stadium much higher (29) than owner David Glass (112).
Third: Our final measure, bang for the buck, uses calculations developed with Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center to figure how well teams turn fans’ money into wins. FINALLY We combined each team’s score across all categories into a weighted average. For example, since fans ranked players as more important than ownership, the former counted for 13.9 percent of a team’s final score versus 11.3 percent for the latter. The result? Fan opinion combined with an objective gauge of the cost of winning. Ultimately, everything counts.
In order to calculate the rankings fans were polled on a number of criteria: Affordability, Coaching, Fan relations, Ownership, Players, Stadium Experience, Bank for the Buck and Championship track. The San Antonio Spurs took the top spot on the list, but four NHL teams found their way into the top ten. The topped ranked hockey team is the Anaheim Ducks in the second position. They are followed by the Los Angeles Kings in fifth, the Lightning at sixth and the Chicago Blackhawks in the tenth position.
The Lightning are the highest ranked local sports team. The Tampa Bay Rays came in 35th and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came in 89th. They jumped 24 spots in 2014 after being ranked 30th in last year’s list. The Bolts are also the highest ranked team located in the state of Florida.
It’s a testament to the ownership, front office, players, and all of the team’s employees’ hard word that a Sun Belt team is gaining such great recognition.
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