ESPN released their 2016 Ultimate Standings this week, ranking all 122 major professional sports franchises (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) against each other. Teams were ranked based on things like title track, ownership, fan relations, affordability and stadium experience, among others. Here's who they rank as the top 10 franchises in all of sports:
10) Texas Rangers
ESPN: "A new menu item at Globe Life Park this season is The Wicked Pig, a $27 sandwich that puts pulled pork, bacon, prosciutto, ham and BBQ sauce on a sweet Hawaiian roll with sides of pork rinds and coleslaw. It's huge -- just like the Rangers' 42-point improvement in our overall standings, the best of any MLB team. After two seasons languishing in the middle of the pack, the Rangers are a top-20 Ultimate Standings franchise for the fourth time in six years."
9) Kansas City Royals
ESPN: "The Royals had the second-biggest leap in last year's Ultimate Standings, and now, after winning the World Series last fall, they climb into the top 10 as the highest-ranked MLB team. Key injuries to Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon's bad year wrecked the team's playoff hopes, but Kansas City remained baseball-crazy, with the highest local TV ratings in the sport."
8) Dallas Stars
ESPN: "After winning the Central Division last season, the Dallas Stars managed to move up two spots in our Ultimate Standings rankings. When it comes to the fan experience, the Stars know how to keep the fans entertained and engaged. From the ownership, player access and lots of success on the ice, the Stars don't have any plans to move away from the top 10 anytime soon."
7) Florida Panthers
ESPN: "15-29-38-47. Those aren't Powerball numbers; they're the win totals for the Panthers dating back to the 2012-13 season. Gerard Gallant has helped turn the Cats into winners again behind the stellar goaltending of Roberto Luongo, the ageless play of Jaromir Jagr, the stout defense of Aaron Ekblad and the youthful goal scoring of Aleksander Barkov, Vincent Trocheck, and Jonathan Huberdeau."
6) Nashville Predators
ESPN: "After ending two straight seasons with April golf, the Nashville Predators hired Peter Laviolette in May 2014 and secured back-to-back playoff spots in a tough Central Division. Even still, the on-ice success seems like just a bonus in Smashville. The Preds claimed the top spot overall in fan relations, affordability, and stadium experience to go along with their 96-point 2015-16 season."
5) Arizona Cardinals
ESPN: "With victories comes not just the spoils, but also a fast rise up ESPN's Ultimate Standings. Cardinals fans' title hopes increased after a 13-3 season last year which ended with them in the NFC Championship Game, and a 27-point jump in these standings soon followed. But their 34 wins in three years had more to do with coach Bruce Arians than anything else."
4) Green Bay Packers
ESPN: "The Packers are the model of consistency for NFL franchises. They're regular contenders (only the Packers and Patriots have been in the playoffs each of the past seven seasons), their finances are in order both off the field and in terms of player contracts, and they've had more than a decade of outstanding quarterback play with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. What team wouldn't want to emulate all of that?"
3) Carolina Panthers
ESPN: "It's amazing what a 15-1 regular-season record, a trip to the Super Bowl and having the league MVP will do for your franchise. The Panthers moved from an overall rating in the mid-20s the past two years to No. 3 overall, the highest ranking by an NFL team. The jump in players from No. 35 to No. 4 tells you the story. Carolina has two of the league's marquee stars in quarterback Cam Newton and middle linebacker Luke Kuechly. Good news: They're both signed long-term, so this rating shouldn't change much in the coming years."
2) San Antonio Spurs
ESPN: "Last year's champs, the Spurs, ranked first in the players category -- for the sixth year in a row. That's in large part thanks to a No. 1 ranking in the category fans say is most important to them: players who always give their best effort. Almost across the board, the team's rankings are up from 2015 (they're also No. 1 in coaching and ownership and rank no lower than 11th in any category), but the Lightning's conference finals run moved them ahead of the four-time Standings topper."
1) Tampa Bay Lightning
ESPN: "Love -- offered and justified, frustrated or spurned -- has been at the heart of our Ultimate Standings for 14 years as we've used fan surveys and financial analysis to rank MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL teams by how they reward fans for the time, money and emotion they invest in them. So when Lightning captain Steven Stamkos answers a question about his team's fans, players and staff with "You can feel that love" -- well, that says it all about his team's place at the top."