Lightning Ranked No. 1 Franchise by ESPN

TAMPA, FL — The Tampa Bay Lightning has been named the No. 1 professional sports franchise in this year’s ESPN Ultimate Standings. The Bolts beat out 121 other teams across all sports to earn the honor.

The rankings are designed to rank sports franchises based on categories that fans care about. Some of the reasons the Bolts scored so high include its efforts to show fan appreciation, an honest ownership, community commitment, keeping core players and more.

The road to the top wasn’t necessarily easy.

“It was hard,” Lightning CEO Steve Griggs was quoted on the Lightning website as saying. “People think we sprinkled pixie dust and it all just happened.”

Griggs credited the team’s 185 full-time employees and the “800 people who work here every single night for a hockey game” for bringing the win home.

The 14th annual Ultimate Standings article was published by ESPN the Magazine. Last year, the Bolts earned No. 3 honors.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came in 73rd overall in this year’s rankings with the Rays in 90th place.

The Lighting have been to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the past two years in a row. As of Thursday, Oct. 20, the team was ranked number one in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division with three wins and no losses to its credit. The 2016-17 NHL season just began with the Bolts and fans hoping to see a return visit to the playoffs.

To read more about the ranking, visit the Lightning online.

Photo credit: Image by Pointnshoot via Flickr