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Green Bay Packers
Overall: 6
Title track: 2
Ownership: 2
Coaching: 25
Players: 10
Fan relations: 11
Affordability: 19
Stadium experience: 4
Bang for the buck: 26
Change from last year: +2
One of only two teams to rank in our top 10 every year since 2010, Green Bay remains a model of excellence. The Packers haven't taken the top spot since 2011, just after their last Super Bowl win, but rest assured -- reach that pinnacle again and a standings climb won't be far behind.
What's good
Since the early 2000s, Lambeau Field has undergone improvements -- first a $298 million stadium renovation and then this summer a $140 million repurposing of the Lambeau Field Atrium, which houses the Packers Hall of Fame, a restaurant and a pro shop. No surprise that it's considered the fourth-best stadium experience in sports (no matter the weather). "I think everybody takes great pride in Lambeau Field, what it means now," Packers president Mark Murphy says. "It's unbelievable how many people are traveling from all over the country and from outside of the United States just to see it." That goes a long way to explain Green Bay's ownership and title track rankings, both second overall.
What's bad
Not much. Coach Mike McCarthy and his staff took plenty of blame for the NFC Championship Game collapse against the Seattle Seahawks, a game the Packers led by double digits with five minutes to play only to lose in overtime -- which helps explains the team's No. 25 coaching ranking. (Yes, 25th, in Green Bay, is considered bad.) Still, the Packers feel secure with McCarthy, who signed a contract extension in 2014 that is believed to run through the 2018 season. He and general manager Ted Thompson, also signed through 2018, have overseen a club that is one of two teams (the Patriots being the other) to have made the playoffs every year since 2009. "The kind of continued, sustained success that we're achieving now, it's not easy in the league," Murphy says. "Everything is really designed to have just the opposite result. But I think the continuity -- obviously we've got talented people in the important positions -- has made the difference."
What's new
Green Bay jumped 29 spots in the Ultimate Standings' bang for the buck category, in part because of all those stadium improvements but also because the Packers rank 10th in average season-ticket price in the NFL ($1,247), a relative steal considering their dominance. What's more, they have yet to adopt a variable pricing package, which would allow them to lower prices for some games (like the preseason) and raise prices for marquee matchups (like the Thanksgiving night affair against the Bears, for example). If you can find your way to one of the Packers' always-impossible-to-get tickets, consider yourself golden -- or at least golden and green.
Next: Indianapolis Colts | Full rankings