In its 14-year history, the Ultimate Team Rankings list, published by ESPN the Magazine, has never ranked the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise number one overall. Until now. Though the team has placed within the top 10 a few times, included a third place finish last year, this is a special honor for an organization that has worked so hard to get to where it is now.
Some of the criteria used to rank all 122 professional franchises in the four professional sports leagues include recent team success, ticket pricing, arena facilities, fan relations, and ownership.
This year, the Tampa Bay Lightning finished higher over other successful and well-respected organizations like the San Antonio Spurs, Green Bay Packers, and Denver Broncos; however, that’s just speculation, since the final list for 2016 will be released later this week (compared to rankings in years past).