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Miami Dolphins
Overall: 92
Title track: T85
Ownership: 83
Coaching: 111
Players: 100
Fan relations: 103
Affordability: 81
Stadium experience: 103
Bang for the buck: 36
Change from last year: +16
Fan relations have been tough for most professional teams in South Florida: Both the Marlins (No. 105) and Dolphins (103) have had their share of issues. It also doesn't help that the Miami Heat (ranked No. 10) have dominated the local sports market for the past several years with LeBron James leading the team to four NBA Finals and two championships. But with James gone, the Heat's grasp on the sports market in Miami is much looser. This opens the door for the Dolphins to improve in fan relations and ticket sales. But it won't happen overnight. This will be a gradual process.
What's good
Finishing with an 8-8 record last season, Miami was ranked No. 36 in bang for the buck (the cost to attend a game is $89.83, with ticket prices down almost 10 percent this year), and affordability landed at 81 (up 13 spots from 2014). It could be higher -- just four NFL teams have lower average ticket prices than the Dolphins. Another high point for Miami? The franchise's overall ranking (92) jumped 16 spots. All of that means that, at least as far as the fans are concerned, the team is headed in the right direction.
What's bad
The Dolphins continue to hope to find their next Don Shula, who coached the team from 1970 to 1995 and is the NFL's all-time winningest coach. Current head coach Joe Philbin isn't awful -- but he hasn't been great either. (He ranks 111th overall -- down four spots from 2014 and third worst in the league.) This is a big Year 4 for Philbin, who entered this season with a 23-25 record, to prove he's the long-term answer at coach. Philbin said he's done a lot of internal scouting to figure out ways he can become a better coach this season and better relate with his players. And, to the fans' relief, he says he's particularly interested in getting the most out of his team late in the year after back-to-back December collapses.
What's new
Dolphins billionaire owner Stephen Ross is willing to spare no expense to make his team successful, which helped him improve 16 spots this year, to 83rd overall. To that end, the Dolphins are in the process of putting approximately $400 million into renovations for Sun Life Stadium -- which also might help improve the No. 103 stadium experience ranking next year. Among those changes are seats closer to the field and a rain canopy that will be installed in 2016 to protect fans from the always-unpredictable South Florida weather.
Next: San Francisco 49ers | Full rankings