It seems when it comes to pro sports, a major US broadcast outlet thinks Toronto is the at the bottom of the barrel!?
In its ninth Ultimate Standings rankings, ESPN gave Toronto the unfortunate designation of being among the worst North American city for professional sports teams .
Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke disagrees completely with ESPN’s pronouncement.
“I think it’s absurd. You’re talking about one of the great sports towns in the world and in my opinion no one complained about this as a sports market when the Blue Jays won two World Series titles and drew two or three million people a year.”
“Obviously the pro teams here, us included, need to do better to shed this kind of a label. But to talk about the marketplace as not being a great sports city, I mean, what does ESPN know about Canada anyway?”
The evaluation was based on how a city’s pro sports teams give back to fans “in exchange for all the time, money and emotion the fans invest in them.”
Fans voted in 21 categories, such as affordability, fan relations, bang for the buck and players.
The Argos and Toronto FC soccer team were not included in the ranking.
With a Stanley Cup drought lasting 44 years, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the dubious distinction of being named the worst team in the NHL. Fans gave the buds brutal scores in terms of bang for the buck, affordability and coaching.
The Raptors didn’t fare much better. They placed third-last in the NBA. Fans blasted the team’s coaching, players and title track. This is championships already won or expected in the lifetime of current fans.
Finally, the Toronto Blue Jays finished in fourth-last place in Major League Baseball. Fans criticized the stadium experience at Rogers Centre and said they weren’t getting much bang for their buck.
The Green Bay Packers were voted the best pro sports team overall, earning impressive scores for their stadium experience and the team’s title track. No surprise there – the Packers won the Super Bowl last year.
I know what I’D like to do with the folks at ESPN….what do YOU Think of their ranking system, and where T.O. is on the list?
Visit http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/teamrankings to get an in-depth look at the team rankings.
1 Comment User Comments
Add a commentRainbowRay
June 21, 2011
12:02 pm
Having lived in Toronto all of my life, I have a few opinions about this article and about ESPN and their so called “poll”.
First, is it ESPN or the fans who voted on this poll (or even both) they are “ignorant” about Canada, Toronto or about sports in general? After having read this article, it sounds like that they are and I believe there are a number of reasons for this, but I will just list a couple here. They are judging all this based on “one xperience” and I bet also (somewhat) on the reputation of the city in terms of having “winning championship teams”. One experience in my opinion doesn’t make someone an expert and the fact that a city hasn’t one a championship in years doesn’t it make it a “lousy” sports town, does it?
ESPN and the fans don’t come out and say this directly, but if there harping on “Green Bay” having won a superbowl, so that makes them the best sports town bar none, then how fare is that poll really> How many other sports teams does Green Bay have anyway? Never been there, can’t say!. One visit and one experieince to Green Bay will not make me an expert as to whether or not Green Bay is the best sports town in the world, does it?? I don’t think so!
I think the fans and ESPN should take the time and get to know the town (like ours), the people and experience with them eveything (not just the sports) and not just in one visit either (it takes more then that in my opinion).
As far as I’m concerned, ESPN’s poll is phony and doesn’t reflect anything really as to how good a sports town really is. I’ve been a Leafs and a Jays fan for years and okay, we’re all waiting for a championship to come back to this city again, hopefully soon, but we can take pride in the fact that we don’t need to take a poll to find out how good a city we are (if ESPN does) in terms of Sports or anything else for that matter, don’t you think? Let ESPN do that! I don’t think TSN will be doing anything like that, do you? Do they need to?
So I say let ESPn have there fun and better yet, let them be educated about Canada and Toronto, the “hockey capital” of the world. If that weren’t true, then why is that the ACC is always sold out night after night even when the Leafs are losing? I rest my case. Take That ESPN and your silly poll!
RainbowRay
Toronto