Ultimate Standings: Spurs Named Top Franchise

[Reality]

Since the debut of the Ultimate Standings in 2003, in which SportsNation feedback ranks every pro franchise in MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL, the San Antonio Spurs have been a fixture among the top teams in sports. In fact, they have never finished below No. 3 in the overall rankings.
This year, after slipping from No. 1 to No. 2 in 2004, the Spurs have reclaimed the top spot in the Ultimate Standings thanks to an ultimate performance on the court, tireless efforts in the community and a cost-friendly sports experience for Spurs fans in every tax bracket.

Below are the Top 10 teams for 2005:

Note: NHL teams were not in the 2004 standings due to the lockout, nor this year's standings because there was not enough time from start of season to gather data.

No. 1 - San Antonio SpursLast year's rank: 2
In San Antonio, says Russ Bookbinder, Spurs VP of business operations, ''you've got city government, the education system, the corporate community and the Spurs.'' And it's often hard to tell them apart. Between players, coaches, execs, Silver Dancers and George Gervin, ambassadors from the Spurs make more than 1,200 community appearances a year in one of the NBA's smallest markets. And the team works actively to connect its personnel to personal causes. While Bruce Bowen was taking public relations courses at UT-San Antonio, he designed a physical-fitness program for kids. The Spurs helped bring the program to life by hooking him up with H-E-B, one of Texas' biggest grocery-store chains. Now Bowen and a giant paper-bag-shaped mascot named H-E-Buddy promote good nutrition to thousands of youngsters a year.
 
 It's good to be a Spurs fan.
Meanwhile, the Spurs are feasting on the court and at the gate. GM R.C. Buford and coach Gregg Popovich have assembled a squad that consistently performs at championship level without wildly overspending and the Spurs have the most wins in the NBA over the past three seasons, but just the 10th-highest payroll in the league. Sure, they've been fortunate to have Tim Duncan to build around. But they also know how to mine international talent (six Spurs are foreign-born), and they've stayed committed to players known more for hard work than flash. This year's big acquisition, Michael Finley, is no exception. Meanwhile, since moving from the football field-size Alamodome, which never sold out, to the SBC Center in 2002, the Spurs have built a Rolodex of 11,500 season ticket-holders and 56 luxury-suite occupants. Now they sell out every night, and the Spurs use their high-end ticket sales to keep prices low throughout the rest of SBC.

Fans love those prices: the Spurs keep 5,000 tickets for every game at $25 or less. They love the players' effort and commitment. They love Coach Pop, who has moved up from 72nd to 18th to seventh to third since we started our rankings. And they love chairman Peter Holt, whom you probably wouldn't recognize if you ran into him at a Rotary Club luncheon, but who successfully fronts a group of nearly two dozen corporations that own shares of the Spurs. Like owners, like team: a lot of local involvement without a lot of ego makes for winners all around.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/story?id=2248555

To see where your team ranked: http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/franchiseRanks

 

[westkoast]

CHUGA CHUGA CHUGA CHUGA

CHOO CHOO

CHUGA CHUGA CHUGA CHUGA

[Guest_Randy]

You know what's funny about this list?  It's not a list that SPORTS analysts put together but one in which they questioned their fans.  

Hey, if your team is doing well -- you suddenly feel GREAT about your team, your coach, your stadium, your owner, etc., etc., etc.  If your team is doing poorly, then you suddenly don't rank them well.

Several points in case:
1)  SacTown -- Kings fans used to LOVE their stadium -- they loved to make it rock with the sound of their cheers/jeers making it one of the toughest arenas to play in.  These days, since the Kings aren't faring so well, it's like playing in the Staples arena (the one arena in the NBA that they WANT to make sure and deaden the noise so that Hollywood Stars can hear to talk on their cell phones during the game).  
2)  Utah Jazz -- another town that LOVED it's stadium during the days of Stockton and Malone.  Now that the team isn't faring as well, Jazz fans no longer love their place?
3)  Portland -- this is probably the most amazing, IMO, since Portland was such a HUGE basketball city for such a long long time.  This town suffered through loss after loss and STILL loved their team and arena -- however, the JailBlazer teams changed all that with their horrendous attitudes and the city can seemingly care less at this point.  Kind of interesting, isn't it?

Now, none of the above points are true with the Lakers -- the Staples center was NOT built to cater to a basketball team -- it was built to cater to those who could afford the millions of dollars it costs to get a luxury box.  The Staples Center wasn't built to augment sound acoustics -- but hey, if you could get somebody to pay that much money to see the Lakers lose, who wouldn't do it.


Most intriguing team in this whole scenario?  Philadelphia 76's!  This team is pretty exciting to watch even when they do lose -- and yet they are struggling to sell tickets.  The present Sixer team is more exciting than any team they have had since their championship run in 2000, IMO -- and yet they are like 28th in the league in ticket sales!  Wierd!!!

[westkoast]

Aside from the obvious Spurs slobbing by Reality I do think they are a great franchise.

[SPURSX3]

Aside from the obvious Spurs slobbing by Reality I do think they are a great franchise.

 B)