Toronto Maple Leaf fans: Don’t feel so bad about your team being stuck in the doldrums, it could be worse — you could root for the New York Knicks. And that is about all you have going for you, according to a new article by ESPN The Magazine that lists the fan satisfaction rankings of every major North American sports franchise.
Using eight different categories, which include affordability of tickets, ownership and title track, which looks at any titles recently won or are likely to be won in the future, ESPN ranked the Leafs 121st out of 122 franchises. Only the sad-sack Knicks were given a lower ranking by the 80,000 fans surveyed.
To put this in perspective, the Atlanta Falcons, with the whole Michael Vick scandal, rank two spots higher and the Seattle SuperSonics, who are fleeing to Oklahoma City, are five spots higher.
The Indianapolis Colts top the rankings, followed by the San Antonio Spurs. The New Orleans Hornets, Green Bay Packers and Anaheim Ducks round out the top 5.
The top Canadian franchise is the Ottawa Senators at 29. Not surprisingly, the top ranked Toronto-area team was the Raptors at 44. The Blue Jays sat near the middle of the pack at 67.
