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Minnesota Vikings
Overall: 50
Title track: 74
Ownership: 41
Coaching: 12
Players: 35
Fan relations: 60
Affordability: 83
Stadium experience: 24
Bang for the buck: 35
Change from last year: +36
A 36-spot jump in these rankings is no small feat, but even more impressive: a 71-spot jump in stadium experience (the Vikings trailed only the Packers in the NFL in votes on "a great stadium"). And thanks to an 11-5 2015 record and a playoff berth, the Vikes saw a 45-spot increase in bang for the buck. All things considered, the Vikings are on their way up -- in these standings and, perhaps, the NFC North.
What's good
Last year, Mike Zimmer became the first coach in NFL history to lead a team to a division title while playing in a temporary stadium. The Vikings' response? Giving Zimmer, originally on contract through 2017, an extension that adds a reported two years to his deal. Vikings fans, too, showed their love: Zimmer jumped 15 spots in these rankings, all the way to 15th overall. Fans have swooned over Zimmer's blunt, candid style, and under his leadership the Vikings jumped from 32nd to fifth in points against. The Vikings bowed out of the playoffs after one round last season, and if Zimmer patches together another playoff team after injuries to running back Adrian Peterson, left tackle Matt Kalil and quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, he may make believers out of the few remaining holdouts.
What's bad
New stadiums are expensive, and as many teams have, the Vikings asked fans to shoulder a large chunk of the cost. Ticket prices remain around the NFL average, at $85, but it's one of just two areas in these rankings in which fans placed the Vikings in the bottom half. The team did roll out a personal seat license program to cover $125 million of U.S. Bank Stadium's $1.1 billion cost, but the prices of concessions (though the Vikings still have the NFL's cheapest hot dog, at $3.00) and many of the stadium's better seats have jumped.
What's new
For perhaps the first time in their history (unless you accept the theory that the Metrodome was cutting-edge for a few years in the early 1980s), the Vikings have a state-of-the-art stadium to call their own. That's no small feat to Minnesota fans, who bumped up the team's Stadium Experience an astonishing 71 spots. U.S. Bank Stadium opened with some logistical hiccups, but offers striking views of downtown Minneapolis and plenty of natural light through the clear roof on the stadium's south side. The stadium also offers the closest seats to the field in the NFL, and some unique high-end seating areas -- like the fantasy sports lounge with couch seating and table service.
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