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    Alexander: From Dodgers to rugby, ranking all 19 Southern California teams
    • March 12, 2026

    Yes, there is a pecking order in North America’s – and perhaps the world’s – most diverse sports market.

    And doesn’t it seem to be getting more crowded every year?

    I’ve been doing this ranking of SoCal’s sports organizations dating to 2005 for the Riverside Press-Enterprise. The idea, then as now, was to measure how well the major league and major college teams that people follow here actually serve the people who buy their tickets and wear their merchandise.

    We’re the Noah’s Ark of sports – two of everything, in most cases – and there are now 19 teams to rank, one with an asterisk as we’ll explain. And it only scratches the surface, given the sports culture here that exists beyond the teams we see on TV.

    The ranking criteria: Relevance, essentially, in the area encompassing L.A., Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. The measure is a stew of competitive success, historic importance in the market, interest level and fan passion. Or, as I’ve boiled it down the last couple of years, if your team wins a championship, how big is the parade?

    Given that measuring stick, the top of this year’s list should, again, be no surprise.

    1. Dodgers (last year 1): The back-to-back champs have topped this list four straight years, and why not? They care about winning as much as their fans do, which counts a lot in this ranking, and anywhere you go in these five counties you’re liable to see someone wearing a Dodgers cap or T-shirt.

    2. Lakers (last year 2): These aren’t your dad’s Lakers, from the Shaq-Kobe-Phil era, or your granddad’s, from the “Showtime” days of the ’80s. But the organizational goal of championships remains, and so does the superstar-powered brand. And they now have common ownership – and financial muscle – with the only team ahead of them on this list.

    3. Rams (last year 3): Again, the bottom line is that General Manager Les Snead and Coach Sean McVay, backed by the resources of Stan Kroenke’s organization, prioritize winning. Not everyone in the NFL seems to. (Hello, New York!) This Rams organization gets it in a way the pre-move L.A. Rams, owned by late Georgia Frontiere, never seemed to.

    4. UCLA women’s basketball (last year T-4): Right now these Bruins are the best team in town, an experienced roster capable of winning a national championship and doing so with joy, passion and determination. (An example: The dance routine performed by Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez and Charisse Leger-Walker during a UCLA men’s game last week.)

    5. LAFC (last year 11): Another organization that prioritizes championships, and do you see a pattern at the top of this list? GM John Thorrington re-signed Denis Bouanga and brought in South Korean star Son Heung-min, signs that management is as passionate about winning that second MLS title as are the loyalists of the 3252.

    6. Chargers (last year 7): With Justin Herbert at quarterback and Jim Harbaugh as coach, the potential is there to at least get to a Super Bowl, and if they can just keep Herbert upright and in one piece there should be no reason why not … oh, right. They still have to get past the tradition of “Chargering.”

    7. Galaxy (last year 6): This legacy MLS franchise has whipsawed its fans the past three seasons: A supporters’ boycott over management failures in 2023, the franchise’s record sixth league championship in 2024, and an 0-12-4 start to the 2025 MLS campaign (1-14-5 in all competitions) before righting the ship. This year? Who knows.

    8. UCLA men’s basketball (last year 9): This has been a typically turbulent season for Coach Mick Cronin’s team, but the Bruins are headed for the NCAA Tournament again. Along the way, Cronin has dispensed plenty of tough love, which can have the fan base howling, but his players – at least publicly – seem to accept it in the spirit in which it’s intended.

    9. Clippers (last year 8): You like to be at your best as the playoffs approach, but the Clippers took it to extremes: 6-21 going into late December, then 26-11 going into Wednesday night’s game against Minnesota … all while the organization awaits word on the investigation of alleged salary cap manipulation involving Kawhi Leonard’s contract.

    10. USC women’s basketball (last year T-4): It has been a challenging year compared to last season’s run, but better times are ahead. JuJu Watkins will be back, freshman Jazzy Davidson will have a year’s experience and a couple more high-caliber recruits will join the Women of Troy.

    11. Ducks (last year 15): The best might not be that far away for a Ducks team that has been rejuvenated under Coach Joel Quenneville, with a group of young players who are now coming into their own. It could be a promising spring in Anaheim, at least on the east side of the 57 Freeway (see No. 17).

    12. USC football (last year 10): Remember the promise when Lincoln Riley first arrived? Or how close they came to the College Football Playoff in his first year before Caleb Williams injured his hamstring? Those fading memories prompted all of those billboards around L.A. reading, “The Time Is Now.”  A better potential slogan? “Prove It.”

    13. Angel City FC (last year 14): The clamor for a National Women’s Soccer League team in L.A. was finally answered in 2022, but after reaching the postseason in 2023, ACFC was 12th and 11th in the league the past two seasons (with identical 7-6-13 records) and had a home attendance dip of a little more than 3,000 per game.

    14. Kings (last year 12): Well, there’s one way to avoid getting beat by Edmonton in the first round of the playoffs – play poorly enough to head to the lake or the golf course before they start. This is not the sendoff that future Hockey Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar deserves.

    15. USC men’s basketball (last year 16): When Coach Eric Musselman kicked leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara off the team with one regular-season game left, that suggests how much of an internal battle the season was. And (team dad) Gilbert Arenas’ reaction – “When you the best player on the team, you right!” – was remarkably tone-deaf.

    16. UCLA football (last year 18): Maybe Bob Chesney will be the next Curt Cignetti in Westwood, rejuvenating the Bruins the way fellow former James Madison coach Cignetti turned Indiana from perennial loser to national champion. (And maybe the administrators will realize being the first tenant in Pasadena has its advantages over being the third wheel in Inglewood.)

    17. Angels (last year 13): Yes, the fans have responded to Arte Moreno’s comments. And if the percentage of those who say they won’t spend any more of their money or have otherwise forsaken the team is any indication, a lot of fence-mending is going to be necessary.

    18. Sparks (last year 17): There are bigger issues, since the WNBA’s players and management are still negotiating and there’s no guarantee yet of a 2026 season. But while last year’s 21-23 record provided flickers of hope, the Sparks haven’t had a winning season since 2020 in the pandemic bubble. A fourth championship banner, and the first in a decade, seems far away.

    19. *California Legion (last year, as Rugby FC L.A., 19): Major League Rugby used to have teams in L.A. and San Diego, but those teams merged into one. And the combined team will play five home games in five different places: Irvine Great Park, University of San Diego, UCLA, Moraga and Sacramento. That’s no way to grow the sport or build a fan base.

    jalexander@scng.com

    ​ Orange County Register 

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