According to the Ultimate Team Rankings, the Tampa Bay Rays are the 35th best organization among the four professional sports. That placed them 8th in Major League Baseball and second in the Tampa Bay area behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, who placed 6th overall, and well ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who finished a distant 84th.
The following chart shows how the Tampa Bay area teams did in the ESPN Ultimate Team Ranking:
Arranging the rankings only for Tampa Bay teams, we see the Lightning ahead in many categories:
These charts are interesting. The rankings have the Lightning as a far better run franchise than the Rays and both the Rays and the Lightning better than the Bucs. Let's look at a few of the categories.
Ownership: According to the rankings, Jeff Vinik of the Tampa Bay Lightning is perceived as far more honest and loyal to core players and the community than the Glazer family and Stu Sternberg and his team. That's interesting, especially considering Vinik is the newest owner of the bunch. Perhaps the Channelside area investments are paying off community-wise. Meanwhile, the Rays ownership ranked 19th in Major League Baseball. Perhaps their handling of the Rays payroll has led fans to believe ownership is not loyal.
It could be worse, however. Not surprisingly, the Marlins ownership was 122nd overall, dead last in honesty and loyalty.
Coaching: Another interesting category. The Rays ranked 19th overall, 5th in MLB, and first in Tampa Bay in strength in on-field leadership. Apparently the fans like Joe Maddon and his staff and they are looked upon well. Far better than the ownership group.
Affordability: While the Lightning are 6th overall, the Rays weren't far behind at 9th. The Rays were also 1st in Major League Baseball in price of tickets, parking, and concessions. The Bucs were a distant 79th.
Fan Relations: While I am not surprised the Lightning did very well (6th overall), I am surprised by the Rays ranking of 40th overall and 7th in MLB in openness and consideration towards fans by players, coaches, and management. Perhaps this is a category the Rays can strive to improve. I would be curious to see how fans determined this. While I think Joe Maddon seems open and the Tropicana Field staff seem nice enough (save for the obtrusive security), maybe the politics of the stadium issue and the fact that Rays ownership has not firmly announced they are staying in the Tampa Bay area has hurt their cause. Or maybe fans are still sore from Evan Longoria and David Price commenting about attendance in 2010.
Stadium Experience: This category didn't surprise me at all. The Lightning again did very well - 5th overall - and the Rays did very poorly (92nd overall and 27th of 30 in MLB). The Bucs also did not finish well in this category with an 86 overall. But for the Rays, the problem is Tropicana Field. No matter how much lipstick is put on the pig, it's still a drab, aging dome with rings in the air and a faulty substation that causes indoor rain delays. I was surprised the Trop finished ahead of any other stadium besides Oakland (is Citi Field really that bad?).
Finally, Title Track - championships won or expected to be won with fan's lifetime. Since the Rays haven't won a championship, they are below teams that have, to include the Lightning and Buccaneers, both who have won since 2000. But the Rays aren't bad, ranking 57th overall and 17th in MLB.
I thought the Rays did fairly well in the ESPN Magazine Ultimate Team Rankings. Although they dropped from 17th overall in 2013 to 35th overall in 2014 and from 4th in MLB in 2013 to 8th in 2014, for a team that plays in a very crowded market with a splintered demographic and a dilapidated dome, that's respectable. Of course, when hockey and baseball overlap, the Rays will probably continue to see fan interest sway to the Lightning, but when the Rays have the season to themselves, fans seem to enjoy and have faith in the product.