While magazine rankings might not provide the final judgments about franchise health, the latest batch of franchise rankings from ESPN The Magazine is truly incredible. The Magazine’s 2011 “Ultimate Standings” — which provide “an overall ranking for pro sports franchises according to how much they give back to fans for the time, money and emotion they invest in them” — has the Redskins ranked 121st among 122 North American pro franchises.
That means the Redskins are behind the Raiders, who finished 104th. They’re behind the Clippers, who were 105th. They’re behind the Bills (107th), Knicks (109th) and Wizards (110th, sorry Ted.) They’re behind the Islanders (114th), and the Thrashers (115th), who aren’t even the Thrashers any more. They’re behind the chaotic Mets (117th), and the flagging Kings (119th).
In fact, the Skins are ahead only of the Bengals, putting them in territory not often associated with a franchise that won three world titles within the past 30 years.
Even more troubling, perhaps, was the result of the ESPN fan survey, asking fans to rate on a scale of 1-5 how their commitment to their favorite team had changed in recent years. The Redskins finished tied with the Kings for 116th in that category.
No D.C. area team was the best or the worst in any single category. The Ravens finished 21st overall, followed by the Caps (27th), Orioles (67th), Nats (78th), Wizards (110th) and Skins (121st). Last year, the Caps were 11th, followed by the Nats (94th), Redskins (102nd) and Wizards (120th).
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.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Redskins Voted Second-Worst Franchise in American Sports
ESPN asked fans to rank every team in the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL from 1 to 122 in an online poll. According to fans nationwide, the Washington Redskins finished 121st:
As a devoted, but embarrassed, Redskins fan, I find these rankings to be pretty accurate. It's one thing to simply lose a lot of games, like Nats or Wizards have for the past several years. The Skins' standing on this list comes down to our long string of national embarrassments, particularly the Donovan McNabb and Albert Haynesworth sagas. When you can't go five seconds without being involved in a controversy, it's usually because your team has an incredibly inept and dysfunctional organization/front office. So I guess we have this 11-year long magical clusterfuck under the ownership of Dan Snyder to thank for that. Better watch what I say though, I don't want to get sued.
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At first, I found their position hard to believe, but then as I looked at the factors it all made sense.
ReplyDeleteThe Skins haven't given a decent "bang for the buck" in over a decade. Their players are with a few exceptions mediocre, the fan relations are absolutely terrible, the ticket prices are ridiculous (and that's before you consider parking and assuming you purchase nothing of any kinds while at the stadium), FedEx Field is blase at best, and to top it all off they have one of the worst owners in sports.