Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

The Orlando Magic and Tampa Bay Rays are down, the Tampa Bay Lightning is way up, and Florida’s NFL franchises are barely visible in ESPN The Magazine’s ninth annual Ultimate Standings.

The magazine ranks the nation’s 122 professional sports franchises in eight subjective categories that accesses each team’s fan relations, performance, ownership, affordability, stadium experience, bang for the buck, players’ accessability and championship potential.

You can question its validity, but during the summer lull it gives sports fans something to debate.

The Super Bowl champ Green Bay Packers jumped from No. 9 to No. 1 in the overall standings, continuing a recent trend for NFL championship winners. Last year, New Orleans was the No. 1 team. The Saints dropped slightly to No. 3 this year.

The Lightning, which reached the NHL semifinal round this year, vaulted from No. 70 last year to No. 2.

The Lightning scored high on bang for the buck (Although, did you see how much those playoff tickets cost?), fan relations and ownership.

The Magic slid from No. 2 overall to a still-respectable No. 16. Orlando was the fourth NBA franchise behind No. 5 San Antonio, No. 6 Oklahoma City and No. 9 Memphis.

The Magic scored highest in “stadium experience,” not surprising since they now reside at the new $500 million Amway Center.

The team took a hit in the bang-for-the-buck category, dropping to No. 16 after being in the top 10 last year.

Magic officials are pleased with the No. 16 ranking.

“The high marks for the Magic continued what has been a banner year for the franchise,” Magic spokesman Joel Glass said.

Glass said that the Magic also were nominated as the best sports team and the Amway Center as the sports facility of the year by Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal and Sports Business Daily.

That’s good news for now, but somebody better get Dwight Howard’s signature on a new contract or these ratings will look dramatically different in a couple of years.

The Rays dropped to No. 25 this year despite fielding one of baseball’s most impressive rosters. They are No. 50 in title track, an indicator of a team’s future playoff potential, No. 86 in ownership and No. 111 in stadium experience. Slumping attendance at the often-ridiculed “Trop” has led to speculation that the team may move.

The struggling Jacksonville Jaguars moved up to No. 45 in the Ultimate Standings. The Jags were No. 71 last year but gained ground in the affordability (No. 16) and the bang-for-the-buck (No. 25) categories. Also, nemesis Peyton Manning of the Colts should be retiring soon.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made an improvement in this year’s standings, climbing from an abysmal No. 99 last year to a middling No. 59 this season. The Bucs got a better score in bang-for-the-buck, escalating from No. 100 to No. 57. They still get ripped for fan relations, however, listed at No. 104.

The Miami Dolphins plummeted from 58th last year to 101st. The Fins got skewered across the board, from coaching (No. 99) to stadium experience (No. 105) to fan relations (No. 108).

Other than that, all’s good in Miami.

The Dolphins may be getting a raw deal, based on their comparison to the Bucs. I went to both stadiums last year for games and neither was markedly better than the other. The Bucs have a pirate ship inside Raymond James Stadium, and the Dolphins’ Sun Life Stadium is old enough to have gone through four name changes, but the tickets, food and parking seemed equally overpriced.

As for the state’s other pro franchises, the Florida Marlins came in at No. 69 (they were 65th last year), earning their best marks for title track (No. 28) and ticket prices (No. 31). That title track ranking may be a mirage, though, after the Marlins dropped 20 of 22 recently and switched managers.

The NHL Florida Panthers again are the state’s most woeful professional sports operation, parked at No. 111 after being 106th last year. The team’s lone bright spot was being No. 54 in affordability.

Bringing up the rear at No. 122 were the Cincinnati Bengals, a team that even its quarterback, Carson Palmer, doesn’t like. Palmer said he will sit out this season if he isn’t traded.

The top 10 franchises after the Packers, the Lightning and the Saints were baseball’s L.A. Angels, the Spurs and the Thunder, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Colorado Rockies, the Grizzlies and hockey’s Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Pack and the Penguins joined the Detroit Red Wings as the teams most likely to win future championships.

Pittsburgh was the only city to have more than one representative among the top 10 in the Ultimate Standings. But, of course, it also has the woeful Pirates, who hold the professional sports record for the most consecutive losing seasons (18 and counting).