The Toronto Maple Leafs are the worst team in professional sports, according to a new ranking by ESPN The Magazine.
The American sports network listed the Leafs at the bottom of its annual Ultimate Standings Ranking, released Friday.
The rankings compare franchises from the NHL as well as the NFL, NBA and MLB.
A total of 122 teams are ranked in the categories of fan relations, quality of ownership, affordability, stadium experience, likeability of players, coaches, the number of championships fans can expect to witness in a lifetime and “bang for the buck.”
The Maple Leafs were ranked dead last in affordability and bang for the buck – which stacks up revenue collected from fan bases against the number of team wins during the past three seasons.
The Leafs also ranked second-last in player quality and anticipated titles, and near the bottom in each of the other categories.
The NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder was ranked the best team in professional sports.
The Toronto Blue Jays, meantime, were ranked 79 and the Toronto Raptors were ranked 103.
In 2011, the Maple Leafs were ranked 120 (out of 122) and the Raptors were ranked 116. The Blue Jays were ranked 63.
Hockey teams from elsewhere in Canada fared somewhat better than the Maple Leafs. The Ottawa Senators were the highest-ranked Canadian team at 42.
The Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks were ranked 91 and 92 respectively, while the Calgary Flames (106), Montreal Canadians (111) and Edmonton Oilers (114) also ranked above the Leafs.
The rankings were based on a report by Maddock Douglas, a Chicago consulting firm, and a survey completed through ESPN.com and NetReflector, a Seattle opinion research company.
Financial analysis for the rankings came from the Warsaw Sports Marketing Centre at the University of Oregon.
