List: ESPN Names Pats Fans 11th Most Satisfied in Sports

http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/mag/franchiseRanks

#11 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

Last Year's Rank: 31
Title Track: 2
Ownership: 12
Coaching: 1
Players: 1
Fan Relations: 18
Affordability: 91
Stadium Experience: 35
Bang for the Buck: 12

Bill Belichick and Tom Brady aren't yet in the Pats' Hall of Fame (that honor belongs to a select dozen that includes Jim Lee Hunt and Babe Parilli), but given that they've amassed more Super Bowl titles than all but one coach/QB tandem in NFL history, a corner surely awaits. It may be hard to find, though. The Hall will be housed in the new retail megaplex known as Patriot Place. Located next to The Razor, it is more than 1.3 million square feet of shopping (Circuit City, Bed Bath & Beyond) and entertainment (a 14-screen deluxe movie theater). Patriots fans may never have to go home again. As for the museum that owner Bob Kraft built with $22 million of his own money? Visitors will be able to see all three of the team's Lombardis, but there's still no word on whether there will be a videotape library. -Eddie Matz

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See folks, there is no Colts bias at ESPN. They just view them as the #1 undisputed ultimate sports franchise.

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

How do the Colts get to be first? But even more...how do the Red Sox get to be so far down the list? I mean...Fenway. That's like a pilgrimage for baseball fans, not just Sox fans. I don't get it.
And how come we see so many Sox hats across the country, but no Ray hats or any other team?

ESPN is such a waste of time.

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

Useless piece of drivel. Jax? the Sabres and Ducks of the NHL? it's meaningless.

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

Did you even read the title of the rankings and what they're about? "Ultimate Standings: Fan Satisfaction Rankings"

This isn't saying anything about being the "BEST" team. It just says how satisfied the fans are, and if you've read some of the posts here, you'd understand that we're not satisfied.

It's a good thing, although we rank second in titles and first in players and coaching, we still expect more. Besides, I think the only reason we are not higher in these rankings is how expensive everything related to the Patriots is.

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

BadMoFo said:

Did you even read the title of the rankings and what they're about? "Ultimate Standings: Fan Satisfaction Rankings"

This isn't saying anything about being the "BEST" team. It just says how satisfied the fans are, and if you've read some of the posts here, you'd understand that we're not satisfied.

It's a good thing, although we rank second in titles and first in players and coaching, we still expect more. Besides, I think the only reason we are not higher in these rankings is how expensive everything related to the Patriots is.

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My first reaction was to freak out but then I looked more carefully at the criteria and methodology and it makes sense. Colts fans have lower expectations, less media scrutinization of their players, cheaper tickets, dare I say a slightly better stadium atmosphere etc.

The only questionable aspect of the methodology is the fact that they don't weight how much fans care. If a midwesterner is asked about their team, of which they have no expectation, they might just say yeah , I'm satisfied. I'd argue that New Englanders are more passionate one way or another which can be both spoiled and dissatisfied but maybe more exciting and involving.

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

You look deeper at their ratings and it has a lot to do with ticket price. The Pats even before their increase had one of the most expensive tickets in all of sports. I think only the Redskins were higher in the NFL. By contrast, the Colts keep their prices closer to the bottom of the league because of the economic climate in Indianapolis and the fact they can't sell out their games.

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

Stupid article and waste of a webspace. How the hell can you measure almost half of the catergories listed? I mean be for real.........

Effort on the field?

Ownership honesty?

Fan relations?


Dump this lame thread..............

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

Stuff like this is a large part of why ESPN sucks. Why even pretend that you can objectively rank teams on all of these arbitrary categories? Even if you could, what would be the point of trying to compare teams across sports? It just doesn't make sense on so many levels...

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

Ha, from the title I thought it must have been 11th best in the history of sports.

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

This list reads like it was decided based off of throwing a bunch of darts at an board. How is the Minnesota Wild who have yet to win an Stanley Cup ahead of the Minnesota Twins who have won TWO World Series?

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

BelichickFan said:

Ha, from the title I thought it must have been 11th best in the history of sports.

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same thing here...i thought

well, currently the pats would be the undisputed number one, so, the OP must mean history of sports

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

Funny to see the Milwaukee Brewers fans (#13) are so much happier with their franchise than the Red Sox fans (#89).

That poll is worth less than 1.5 sheets of Charmin.

BTW, I just corrected the thread title.

"TTR (Title Track): Titles already won or expected -- soon."

#1 Carolina Hurricanes
#2 New England Patriots
#3 San Antonio Spurs....

How on earth is San Antonio not #1 in this category, followed by NE? This is where I stopped taking this list seriously...

Players effort on field/likability off of it

#3 Portland Trailblazers!!!!

This list is actuallly hilarious if you spend some time with it...

Affordability basically dropped the Patriots from up at or near the very top to still very good but not the best.

Not a whole lot can be done about that. It is a difference though.

I know one time I was in Indianapolis in the winter after FB was over and decided to go to a Pacers game. I was told where I should park-- the EXPENSIVE parking close to the arena was a whopping $5, and if I wanted to avoid that price (which the locals thought rather high) then private lots a little further away were $3. The tickets were half that of what you'd pay in Boston, so was the beer, the hot dog, the popcorn, the whole deal.

It's kind of silly of ESPN to factor that stuff in the ratings to anywhere near the extent you factor coaching and winning tradition, though. For the fan watching a home or going to a game or two a year, it doesn't matter much

I think the part that makes it ridiculous is the "satisfied" moniker. If they'd just called it, "ranking the fanbases in a series of arbitrary categories based on mostly our whims", than that would make sense.

I actually find the Patriots one less ridiculous than where the Sox rank. If you know one Red Sox fan who after 2 titles in 4 years, another strong start this year, an ownership group committed to winning every year, and a core of young home-grown players contributing every day STILL isn't satisfied, than I would love to meet that person. The fact that they're ranked 23rd out of 30 teams, behind not one but FOUR teams who have never won a title, is just the height of ridiculous. Hell, the Devil Rays and Nationals (in their current manifestation) have never even sniffed the playoffs, so if their fans are "satisfied" with that, than I don't know what to say.

Wow....what a terrible, terrible waste of space. Can you fine somebody for littering the internet?

How amazing is it that they paid somebody to crunch those ridiculous numbers and they came back with this?

The purpose of lists like this--heck, even mock drafts run on the same principle--is not to be objective. It's to draw eyeballs.

But I agree that anyone who thinks fans aren't satisfied with the Sox right now needs a check-up from the neck up.

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

Affordability basically dropped the Patriots from up at or near the very top to still very good but not the best.

Not a whole lot can be done about that. It is a difference though.

I know one time I was in Indianapolis in the winter after FB was over and decided to go to a Pacers game. I was told where I should park-- the EXPENSIVE parking close to the arena was a whopping $5, and if I wanted to avoid that price (which the locals thought rather high) then private lots a little further away were $3. The tickets were half that of what you'd pay in Boston, so was the beer, the hot dog, the popcorn, the whole deal.

It's kind of silly of ESPN to factor that stuff in the ratings to anywhere near the extent you factor coaching and winning tradition, though. For the fan watching a home or going to a game or two a year, it doesn't matter much

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....and the woman who got $75k for winning the Boston Marathon a few days ago is now set for LIFE back home in Ethiopia. There's a reason the cost of living is lower in different areas.

Re: List: ESPN names Pats 11th best franchise in sports

shmessy said:

Funny to see the Milwaukee Brewers fans (#13) are so much happier with their franchise than the Red Sox fans (#89).

That poll is worth less than 1.5 sheets of Charmin.

BTW, I just corrected the thread title.

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Even better than that, the Los Angeles Clippers fans are happier with their team than Sox fans with the Red Sox. Hmmmmmm...:bricks: