City rankings: Big year for Indy
Page 2 staff

At Page 2, we love lists. We love winners and we love losers. So, why not combine our three loves at once? We present the second annual Page 2 City Rankings. Which pro sports city had the best year? We devised a scoring method, punched in the numbers and produced a winner.

Here's how we scored the rankings:

Colts
The Colts have given their fans plenty of victories to celebrate.

1. We averaged the winning percentage for all teams in the four major sports for cities that have at least two franchises (thus, one-sport cities such as Green Bay, San Antonio and Portland were not included).

2. We then added bonus points: 50 points for winning a championship, 25 points for reaching the title game and 10 points for making the playoffs. We subtracted 10 points if a team finished in last place. We also wanted to reward some individual achievements, so we added 5 points for each player who made the NBA All-Star Game, 4 points for making the NHL or MLB All-Star Game and 3 points if named to the 2004 Pro Bowl. We then adjusted this total so a city with more teams (like New York) would not have an advantage over a two- or three-team team city.

Note: We used the 2003 Super Bowl result (bonus points for Tampa and Oakland), but playoff teams from the 2003 season (no bonus there for Tampa and Oakland). NBA and NHL totals are from the 2002-03 season.

This year's winner? Indianapolis, which had excellent seasons from the Colts and Pacers. The top city with three or more teams was Boston, as all four of its teams finished above .500 and made the playoffs.

San Diego, with dismal years from the Chargers and Padres, finished last, edging out Cleveland, which suffered through horrible results from the Browns, Indians and Cavs (at least Cleveland fans have LeBron's future to look forward to).

And for those who think money determines which teams win in pro sports? New York ranked 16th out of 33 cities, even though the Devils were NHL champs and the Yankees reached the World Series.

A few other notes:

  • The worst four-team city was Phoenix, as only one (the Suns) of its four teams made the playoffs.

  • The biggest jump from last year is Kansas City, which went from No. 26 to No. 2, as the Chiefs and Royals had big improvements.

  • The biggest drop from last year is Oakland, which fell from No. 6 to No. 26, thanks largely to the Raiders' dismal 4-12 season.

  • Only two cities have seen all of its teams finish with winning records the past two years: Indianapolis and, more impressively, Boston.

    2003 City Rankings
    City NFL MLB NBA NHL Pct. Bonus Total
    1. Indianapolis .750

    		.585

    		.668 56 724
    2. Kansas City .813 .512

    		.663 56 719
    3. Boston .875 .586 .537 .530 .632 51 683
    4. St. Louis .750 .525

    		.604 .626 56 683
    5. Philadelphia .750 .531 .585 .652 .630 33 662
    6. Dallas .625 .438 .732 .665 .615 42 657
    7. Nashville .750

    		.451 .601 29 630
    8. Minneapolis .563 .556 .622 .567 .577 37 614
    9. Seattle .625 .574 .488

    		.562 37 599
    10. Anaheim

    		.475

    		.579 .527 68 595
    11. Baltimore .625 .438

    		.532 51 582
    12. San Francisco .438 .621

    		.530 36 566
    13. New Orleans .500

    		.573 .537 28 565
    14. Miami .625 .562 .305 .439 .483 55 538
    15. Tampa .438 .389

    		.579 .469 67 536
    16. New York* .313 .517 .525 .539 .480 50 530
    17. Denver .625 .457 .207 .640 .482 27 509
    18. Los Angeles#

    		.525 .470 .476 .485 17 502
    19. Toronto

    		.531 .293 .598 .474 24 498
    20. Chicago@ .438 .537 .366 .494 .474 23 497
    21. Montreal

    		.512

    		.470 .491 5 496
    22. Atlanta .313 .623 .427 .451 .454 25 479
    23. Milwaukee

    		.420 .512

    		.466 11 477
    24. Cincinnati .500 .426

    		.463 13 476
    25. Detroit .313 .265 .610 .659 .462 13 475
    26. Oakland .250 .593 .463

    		.435 37 472
    27. Washington .313

    		.451 .561 .442 26 468
    28. Houston .313 .537 .524

    		.458 3 461
    29. Phoenix .250 .519 .537 .476 .446 11 457
    30. Pittsburgh .375 .463

    		.396 .411 4 415
    31. Buffalo .375

    		.439 .407 -13 394
    32. Cleveland .313 .420 .207

    		.313 -10 303
    33. San Diego .250 .395

    		.323 -21 301

    * Includes two NFL, MLB and NBA teams and three NHL teams (includes New Jersey)
    # Includes two NBA teams
    @ Includes two MLB teams


    		•


    ALSO SEE:

    Part I: Sex & Sports, 2003

    Part II: Sex & Sports, 2003

    Caple: The year that wasn't

    The List: Best lists of 2003

    Page 2's 2002 city rankings





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