The Steelers are the 7th Best Franchise In Sports, Says ESPN Magazine

[polamalubeast]

For the ninth year in a row ESPN The Magazine is compiling its ultimate franchise ranking, which takes every team in the four major North American sports and ranks them based on a number of categories including ownership, bang for the buck, how affordable it is to attend a game, title track, coaching and fan relations. The 2011 issue is set to hit newsstands on Friday, but word is already getting out as to which teams are at the top of the list. Your Pittsburgh Steelers come in at No. 7 (out of 122), trailing only the Green Bay Packers, Tampa Bay Lightning (!?), New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder.



read more

http://www.steelerslounge.com/2011/06/steelers-7th-franchise-sports-espn-magazine/

[polamalubeast]

The rankings, according to the Mag, are based on efficiency in spending fan money compared to on-field performance, while also factoring in feedback from 70,000 fans in online and independent polls. The categories include “bang for the buck” (24.3%), players (16.6%), fan relations (16.5%), affordability (14.1%), stadium experience (9.1%), ownership (9.0%), title track (6.7%), and coaching (3.9%). The full rankings are in the “Best in Sports” issue that hits newstands on Friday.

[st33lersguy]

What in the world are these rankings based off of, random chance?

[salamander]

It's ESPN, what would you expect?

[steel striker]

Yeah espn/nflnw/cbssportsline/ fountain of misinformation.

[SMR]

Hey, its ESPN.

:yuck2:

[steelerdude15]

I could understand the Packers, but none of the other teams.

[steeldawg]

you can make a case i guess for some of the others but the Angels, lightning, and thunder? These are top franchises? Lakers or celtics not in front of them? Red Sox or Yankess? This list is bogus.

[suitanim]

They got the Bengals right...

[VTsteel]

Correct me if I am wrong . . . but, weren't the Steelers #1 on that list last year (or maybe 2 years ago)?

[HometownGal]

The only saving grace here is that the Cheats* aren't in the Top 5.



http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_d8bF7KBsmHI/SmbFsBDiygI/AAAAAAAADX8/vOJSaj49940/s400/ESPN_Sucks.jpg

[fansince'76]

These kinda sum up my feelings about it.

http://static.wix.com/media/c35c7f336440b766541dac8504a3e39d.wix_mp_256

http://www.boxofficefootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/espn-disney.gif

[86WARD]

Thunder and Lightning in the Top-5? Please...that's silly talk.

[SMR]

These kinda sum up my feelings about it.

http://static.wix.com/media/c35c7f336440b766541dac8504a3e39d.wix_mp_256

http://www.boxofficefootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/espn-disney.gif


Spot on!

[Shoes]

They got the Bengals right...


:chuckle:

[Godfather]

I can understand the Packers for sure. The Spurs don't get love from the national press because they aren't full of thugs and showboats, but they've been a very good franchise over the past 15 years. Saints had a terrible history the first 40 years (sound familiar?) but are a very good team now and mean a great deal to their home market.

Angels are pushing it--one World Series title in 50 years and are traditionally the "other" team in their metro area. The Thunder and Lightning? Whoever put them ahead of us needs to be drug tested.

[Godfather]

They got the Bengals right...

I wanna know how Nutting didn't land in the bottom ten.