Are the Steelers the best franchise?

by Christy on Feb 3, 2009 11:00 AM CST in Quick Hits

After the Pittsburgh Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl title on Sunday (a league best), I keep hearing the media talk about how the Pittsburgh Steelers are the best franchise in all of sport. While I can't argue that the Steelers are a great franchise and certainly one of the tops, is it really THE best?

Before Tom Brady went down, I thought the New England Patriots was up top in the NFL. What about the Yankees? It's awfully hard to make the postseason in the MLB yet they did it, what, 13 seasons in a row or something crazy like that? I admit that I'm just a tad biased, but the Wings have made the postseason 17 seasons in a row and have a large international following.

Update (Feb. 4): I just saw on SportsCenter that the Steelers attracted 300,000 fans to their Super Bowl celebration parade/rally. Only 300,000? Man. The Wings got around 1 million in their most recent Stanley Cup win and have done better than that in previous rallies.

So I would like to get your guys' thoughts in the poll below:

Poll

What team is the best franchise in professional sports?

Pittsburgh Steelers

18 votes

New England Patriots

1 votes

Dallas Cowboys

0 votes

Detroit Red Wings

99 votes

New York Yankees

9 votes

San Antonio Spurs

2 votes

LA Lakers

2 votes

Boston Celtics

0 votes

Montreal Canadiens

7 votes

Other

9 votes

147 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Best in football maybe

I’d argue that the Steelers are the best franchise in professional football, but definitely not in all professional sports. We can thank our beloved Red Wings for holding that title. However, the Steelers have won the most Super Bowls out of any team in NFL history, and have won in multiple decades. There have been several dynasties in the NFL (Packers in the ‘60s, 49ers in the ’80s, Cowboys in the ’90s, Patriots the past few years), but I don’t think there’s been a team as consistent as the Steelers (well, other than the Lions, but that’s a different kind of consistency…).

From what I have seen as a casual NFL fan (and fantasy football participant), the Steelers are a classy, team-oriented organization just like the Red Wings. Their current head coach took over for a modern-day legend in Bill Cowher and has done a fantastic job of keeping that team’s identity intact while maintaining a very high level of play. Congrats to the Steelers for Super Bowl win #6, but the Red Wings are still the best franchise in all of sports. The Steelers don’t have to carry an entire league on their back the way the Red Wings do.

The Yankees aren’t even close to either of these teams. It takes a great organization and front office with a team-first philosophy to keep a team at the top consistently with a salary cap structure. Hmm… sounds familiar….

by Rob Rogacki on Feb 3, 2009 1:17 PM CST reply actions

Good points.

Thanks for the well-thought out comment!

It’s good idea to point out that the Steelers have been consistently good throughout the years rather than just a specific decade of NFL history.

by Christy on Feb 4, 2009 11:02 PM CST up reply actions

It’s Montreal. In terms of fan support, historical success, everything… nobody else comes close.

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by Travis Hughes on Feb 3, 2009 3:05 PM CST reply actions

They are pretty frickin' sweet.

I always love playing them at the Joe because they’re fans will come out and it gets our crowd pretty loud. The back and forth between the two fanbases is pretty entertaining.

by Christy on Feb 4, 2009 10:52 PM CST up reply actions

Manchester United?

from english premier league?

by FLYNN47 on Feb 3, 2009 5:31 PM CST reply actions

Good point.

I hadn’t considered any non-North American teams.

Is that who you would have picked?

by Christy on Feb 4, 2009 10:50 PM CST up reply actions

I picked the Habs, too. Was blown away by their fans during all-star weekend.

by James Mirtle on Feb 3, 2009 5:31 PM CST reply actions

In the US

I would go with the Red Wings. But in North America, I have also been blown away with just how hardcore their fans are. Between the history and the culture that hockey is king, it’s hard to not come away impressed.

by Christy on Feb 4, 2009 10:49 PM CST up reply actions

all time best are the Canadiens, current best would be us (17 post seasons in a row, 4 cups and 6 presidents´ trophy over that stretch)

by yannick on Feb 4, 2009 11:09 AM CST reply actions

Interesting.

So it sounds like you’re just basing your choice off of pure performance results? Do you factor fans in at all? If so, would that change your answer?

by Christy on Feb 4, 2009 11:02 PM CST up reply actions

Fans are of course very important for the team support and tradtion and also cause they are the ones that bring the money to the organisation. But in the end you don´t speak of a dinasty based on the number of sellout games per season, what counts are the team results (cups, division wins, playoff seasons). My opinion of course is biased as being just an oversea Red Wings fan, i can´t attend the games sadly :(

by yannick on Feb 5, 2009 5:55 AM CST up reply actions