The 2026 ESPYS Best Team award honors the top team in sports over the past year, and this year's ballot is stacked with champions: the NBA champion Knicks, Super Bowl LX winner Seahawks, gold-medal Team USA men's hockey, and the World Series champion Dodgers. The Knicks are the runaway favorite on the Kalshi board. Winners are chosen by fan vote and revealed live at the ESPYS on July 15, 2026, with all nine nominees on the live board above.
The Best Team ESPY is the ESPYS' crossover trophy, the one category that puts a Super Bowl winner, an NBA champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and a national-title college team on the same ballot. The 2026 ESPYS Best Team field runs nine deep and is unusually loaded, with four nominees that won the biggest prize in their sport over the past twelve months. The New York Knicks are the runaway favorite on the Kalshi board, and the live board above ranks every nominee by its current price. Fans pick the winner, revealed live on July 15, 2026.
The New York Knicks headline the 2026 ESPYS Best Team field. In June 2026 they beat the San Antonio Spurs four games to one to win the franchise's first NBA championship since 1973, ending a 53-year drought, with Jalen Brunson taking Finals MVP on the back of a 45-point Game 5. They also became the first team to win the NBA Cup and the NBA title in the same season. That resume makes them the runaway favorite on the Kalshi board, and Brunson is separately up for the Best NBA Player ESPY 2026.
The Seattle Seahawks are the football entry. They won Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026, beating the New England Patriots 29-13 behind MVP running back Kenneth Walker, the franchise's second Lombardi Trophy and first since the 2013 season. Seattle finished 14-3 as the NFC's top seed, and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is also nominated for the Best NFL Player ESPY 2026.
Team USA men's hockey carries the best story of the field. At the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics they beat Canada 2-1 in overtime on Jack Hughes' goal, with Connor Hellebuyck making 41 saves, to claim the first United States men's Olympic hockey gold since the 1980 Miracle on Ice. The team went 6-0 and outscored opponents 26-9. Olympic gold medalists have won this award before, and a 46-year wait is exactly the kind of narrative ESPYS voters reward.
The Los Angeles Dodgers round out the champion tier as the reigning World Series winners, the lone MLB nominee and a national brand with one of the sport's largest fan bases. The college game is represented twice: the Indiana Hoosiers, off a breakthrough football season, and the Texas Longhorns softball team, one of the most dominant programs in the country. The Carolina Hurricanes, the Las Vegas Aces, and Team USA women's hockey fill out the nine-nominee ballot.
The Best Team ESPY has been handed out every year since 1993, briefly split into separate college and pro honors in 2001 before rejoining as one award in 2002, and it was not awarded in 2020 during the pandemic. The most recent winner was the Philadelphia Eagles in 2025, honored for their Super Bowl LIX title. The 2024 award went to the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team, and the 2023 trophy went to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Golden State Warriors won in 2022, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021, and the United States women's national soccer team in 2019 after its World Cup run. Before that, the Houston Astros took it in 2018, the Golden State Warriors again in 2017, the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 after their historic Finals comeback, and the United States women's national soccer team in 2015. The list skews toward champions with a signature moment, which is the exact profile the 2026 Best Team field is full of.
The 2026 ESPYS Best Team award is decided live during The 2026 ESPYS on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, airing at 8pm ET on ABC and streaming on the ESPN app, staged at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. ESPN sets the nominee field and fans cast the votes online, so the team with the most fan support wins rather than a panel pick. The market resolves that night to whichever nominee is announced as the winner. Each team contract pays $1 per share if that team wins and $0 otherwise.
The ESPYS ballot runs deep beyond the team award. The individual races on the same night include the Best NBA Player ESPY 2026 odds, the Best NFL Player ESPY 2026 odds, and the Best MLB Player ESPY 2026 odds. The headline categories are the Best Male Athlete ESPY 2026 odds and the Best Female Athlete ESPY 2026 odds. For the full slate of team and league futures, browse sports prediction markets.
Resolves to the team announced as the Best Team winner at The 2026 ESPYS on July 15, 2026, held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and broadcast at 8pm ET on ABC. ESPN sets the nominee field and the winner is determined by online fan vote. Each team contract pays $1 per share if that team wins; all other team contracts resolve to $0. If the ceremony is canceled or the award is not presented, the contract resolves per each platform-specific rules.
The New York Knicks are the runaway favorite. As of July 11, 2026, they trade at 95c on Kalshi after winning the franchise's first NBA title since 1973. The rest of the field, from the Seattle Seahawks to Team USA men's hockey, sits well behind.
The winner is announced live during The 2026 ESPYS on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, at 8pm ET on ABC, staged at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The market resolves that night.
ESPN sets the nominee field, then fans vote online. The 2026 ballot has nine nominees, and the team with the most fan votes wins. ESPYS balloting has been fan-driven since 2004.
The nine nominees are the New York Knicks, Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Dodgers, Indiana Hoosiers, Texas Longhorns, Team USA men's hockey, Team USA women's hockey, the Carolina Hurricanes, and the Las Vegas Aces.
Watch the fan-vote campaigns in the days before July 15, 2026. Olympic and Super Bowl teams historically punch above their weight at the ESPYS, so Team USA men's hockey and the Seahawks are the names to track against the Knicks.