to wait for a visa before rejoining the Ducks on Wednesday in Columbus for a

This story is part of ESPN The Magazines Oct. 31 NBA Preview Issue. Subscribe today!Carolina PanthersOverall: 3 Title track: 31 Ownership: 14 Coaching: 10 Players: 4 Fan relations: 7 Affordability: 36 Stadium experience: 21 Bang for the buck: 1 Change from last year: +21Its amazing what a 15-1 regular-season record, a trip to the Super Bowl and having the league MVP will do for your franchise. The Panthers moved from an overall rating in the mid-20s the past two years to No. 3 overall, the highest ranking by an NFL team. The jump in players from No. 35 to No. 4 tells you the story. Carolina has two of the leagues marquee stars in quarterback Cam Newton and middle linebacker Luke Kuechly. Good news: Theyre both signed long-term, so this rating shouldnt change much in the coming years.Whats goodCarolinas lineup, led by Newton and Kuechly, is star-studded and ranks fourth overall in our rankings. A league-best 10 Panthers were selected to the Pro Bowl in 2015. Newton obviously is the highest profile player after an MVP season, but others, such as 2014 NFL Man of the Year Thomas Davis and two-time Pro Bowl selection Greg Olsen, are starting to garner attention because of the teams success. The culture that coach Ron Rivera -- up 40 spots from last year to 10th overall -- and general manager Dave Gettleman have developed the past three years is starting to pay dividends on and off the field. Few teams have as many players engaged in their community.Whats badAffordability is about the only negative you can find -- and the Panthers are still among the least expensive franchises in the NFL (Carolinas average ticket price, $78 in 2015, is cheaper than that of 22 other franchises). Even the Panthers lowest ranking is four spots better than a year ago, and thanks to those 15 wins, their bang for the buck jumped from 16th last year to the best in all of sports.Whats newRiveras 40-spot jump isnt surprising, considering his team reached the Super Bowl and he won Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons. Stadium experience took an even bigger leap, rising 42 spots, thanks to an $87.5 million upgrade to Bank of America Stadium, including the addition of escalators and improved concessions. Self-serving soft drinks added this year might make for another leap in 2017. Even ownership took a major jump, from No. 34 to No. 14. Team founder Jerry Richardson is finally getting from others the respect he has had league-wide since the Panthers were formed in 1995.Next: Green Bay Packers?| Full rankings Wholesale Sneakers Free Shipping . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Discount Sneakers . -- Patrick Reed got an early start in golf. http://www.cheapsneakers.us/ . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Cheap Sneakers From China . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. Cheap Nike Sneakers . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . In its effort to overturn the four-game suspension that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell imposed on Tom Brady, the NFL Players Association has spent more than $3.5 million on legal fees, according to detailed billing records filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. The expenses continue to build as the union ponders a possible attempt to interest the U.S. Supreme Court in the dispute.Like all labor organizations in the U.S., the NFLPA must file detailed financial reports with the federal government. The 466-page report was submitted two months ago and covers the year that began on March 1, 2015, and ended on Feb. 29. The listing of expenses includes the monthly payments to Winston & Strawn, the law firm that, led by attorney Jeffrey Kessler, performed all of the work on Deflategate until the union added the highly regarded appellate advocate Ted Olson to its legal team earlier this year. The work of Olson and his firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which likely ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, came too late to be included in the report.Although there has been considerable speculation about the legal fees that the league and the union have invested in a dispute over the inflation of footballs, these billings are the first report of the actual fees that the union paid. There is no legal requirement that the NFL make public reports of its legal fees.?For the preparation and presentation of evidence in the one-day arbitration hearing before Goodell, the union paid its lawyers $1,328,273, according to the listings in the report for April, May and July of 2015.In its successful challenge to Goodells ruling before U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman, the union spent another $1,563,380 for two days of hearings.The preparation and filing of briefs in response to the leagues appeal of Bermans ruling resulted in $687,566 for the union.The total expense of $3,570,219 does not include the work that Olson did after the appellate courts 2-1 decision that reversed Judge Berman and reinstated Bradys four-game suspension. After the deadline for the filing of the unions annual repoort had expired, Olson prepared an extensive brief asking for rehearing and orchestrated the filing of supporting briefs from the AFL-CIO, famed arbitrator Kenneth Feinberg, and various professors in support of rehearing.dddddddddddd?It is likely that Olsons bills to the union for the effort on rehearing are at least the equal of Kesslers bills for the appeal, which ran around $700,000. Olsons bills will not be made public until the union files its next annual report in May of 2017.Based on the actual bill in the annual report and the estimate of Olsons charges, the cost to each of the unions 2,000 members for pursuit of the lifting of Bradys suspension is $2,000.A union spokesman emphasized, however, in an interview with ESPN.com that the players dues ($15,000 per year) are not used for legal fees. The fees are instead funded out of the unions enormous income from royalties paid to it for NFL paraphernalia under the collective bargaining agreement. Although it is not specifically stated in the public reports, an analysis of other revenue figures in the reports shows that the unions royalties in 2015 were more than $138 million. Dues paid by the players for the same year were $32,168,380. The unions budget for legal fees is approved by its board of player representatives at the groups annual budget adoption meeting, according to the spokesman. It is one of our most in-depth sessions, he said.In addition to the annual review, the unions executive committee meets monthly to approve all spending on legal fees.Although the unions investment in the Brady dispute may seem large, it could be small in comparison to the NFLs expenditures. The league is not required to make public reports of the fees that it pays, but during the course of a Brady appeal hearing, attorney Ted Wells estimated the price of his investigation into Deflategate to be $2.5 million to $3 million. That is, of course, only a fraction of what the NFL has spent in its pursuit of Brady. ' ' '