As the Cleveland Cavaliers, leading Detroit 3-2 in their Eastern Conference semifinal series, draw closer to ending another season without an NBA championship – how’s that for being optimistic? – it should be noted that while The Land has seen its share of disappointment, it is not the most hard-luck sports city in the nation.
What is? Glad you asked. I thought it would be fun, in a cathartic-cleanse-the-soul sort of way, to rank the top (bottom?) 15 cities by their overall professional sports team ineptitude.
But first, the ground rules:
1) Long-suffering fan bases factor into the equation, of course, but mostly as a tiebreaker, because of the subjective nature of what a championship drought looks like. For instance, Cleveland baseball and football fans know what it’s like to go decades without winning it all – the Cleveland franchise last won the World Series in 1948 and the Browns last won an NFL title in 1964 – but the Cavs won a championship in 2016. If a majority of fans can remember what winning a title, any title, feels like, it counts against the ranking.
2) Reaching a sports title game scores bonus points, no matter the outcome, so for example the Cincinnati Bengals (three Super Bowl losses) rate better than the Jacksonville Jaguars (no appearances.)
3) Cities with the big-four sports (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) take precedence over those with only one, two or three. In this case, the more is not always the merrier. In the same way, cities with three teams take precedence over two, and two over one. Otherwise, Columbus would be fighting Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, Memphis, Orlando, Charlotte and Jacksonville for the sad clown crown. (Note: San Diego previously was in the running for most sad sack sports city, but after the Chargers and Clippers bolted to Los Angeles, the country’s eighth most-populated city shed some of its loser label.)
4) While counting only big-four sports titles, some consideration is given to other sporting achievements, which is good for Columbus; thank you Crew for those three MLS Cup titles.
5) This ranking does not include teams in Canadian cities. You’re welcome, Vancouver.
Let’s get to it. In reverse order:
15. Portland
The City or Roses has not often smelled like one when it comes to winning championships. It’s lone big-four team, the Trailblazers, last captured a crown in 1977, when Bill Walton roamed the paint. Otherwise, the Timbers earned the 2015 MLS Cup by defeating the Crew.
14. Orlando.
A one-sport town, the Magic have made two forays into the NBA Finals, losing to Houston (1995) and the Los Angeles Lakers (2009). The mostly land-locked central Florida city has been dubbed trash sport capital of the U.S. but at least it had Shaq to make things interesting for awhile.
13. Salt Lake
A one-sport contender until recently – the NHL Mammoth relocated from Phoenix as an expansion franchise in 2024-25 – the NBA Jazz played in back-to-back Finals in 1997-98, vanquished by Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
12. Jacksonville
Still wondering how this Florida city got an NFL team, if that’s what you can call the Jaguars. One of only four franchises, joining Cleveland, Detroit and Houston, never to reach the Super Bowl.
11. Nashville
Neither of Music City’s two major sports teams, the Predators or Titans, has broken through to win championships. The Preds reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2017 before falling to Pittsburgh. The Titans came within one yard of winning the 1999 Super Bowl, but St. Louis Rams linebacker Mike Jones tackled Titans receiver Kevin Dyson one yard short of the goal line on the last play of the game.
10. Charlotte
The Queen City of the South (Cincinnati owns that title in the North) has only experienced misery, not championship royalty. The Carolina Panthers have been around since 1995, and while making the 2004 and 2016 Super Bowls, they lost both. The Hornets own a history of loss, including losing its name (the Hornets became the Bobcats before returning to become the Hornets) as well as the team itself when everything moved to New Orleans before eventually going back to Charlotte. Regardless of the name or city, no title was ever obtained, despite Michael Jordan running the show.
9. Cleveland
Yes, the city once dubbed “The Mistake on the Lake” has experienced enough heartbreak for two lifetimes, including The Drive, The Fumble and The Rain Delay (2016 World Series Game 7 loss to Chicago), but LeBron James saved it from earning the No. 1 ranking by rallying the Cavs from a 3-1 deficit to defeat Golden State in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals.
8. Cincinnati
This was a tough call. After all, remember The Big Red Machine? Uh, maybe not, since it was 50 years ago. OK, what about the Reds sweeping Oakland in the 1990 World Series? That was 36 years ago. Half of Cincinnati sports fans living today don’t remember those glory days. The Redlegs have not won a playoff series since 1995. As for the Bengals, close but no cigar.
7. Columbus
The Arch City probably deserves less respect, but, hey, who wants to describe the place you live as Loserville? Fact: the Blue Jackets have won exactly one playoff series in their 25-year history, not including the COVID 2020 qualifying round. Fortunately, Columbus has been able to mask the miserable outcomes behind a successful soccer team, but even more because of a certain local college football program, which increasingly operates as a pro sport.
6. Memphis
The NBA Grizzlies have disappointed two separate fan bases, having moved from Vancouver in 2001-2002 after failing to reach the playoffs in six seasons. Since crossing the border, the Grizz have fared better but still have never made the NBA Finals.
5. Sacramento
The capital of California smells a bit like Columbus sports, but without the soccer titles and Buckeyes. The Kings finally broke a 16-year playoff drought – longest in NBA history – in 2022-23 but lost in the first round. Otherwise, the best finish was reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2001-2002.
4. Phoenix
For its size – fifth-largest city in the nation – this desert oasis is more of a mirage when it comes to championship pedigree. Phoenix has three of the four major sports, and used to have all four until the Coyotes folded, but has exactly one title to lean on: the Diamondbacks’ 2001 World Series win over the New York Yankees. Otherwise, the Cardinals’ and Suns’ fans have had zero, zip, zilch titles to celebrate.
3. San Diego
Sure, the City-of-Always-72-Degrees-and-Sunny has only the Padres to cheer for anymore, which according to my own ground rules means I should cut it some slack, but allowing the NFL and NBA to skip town counts as negative points. Even when this city best known for its zoo did have the Clippers and Chargers, neither team was worth much of a darn. The Clips were 186-306 (.378) in their six seasons in San Diego. The Chargers won an AFL title in 1963, but lost their only Super Bowl appearance in (1994). As for the Padres, they are 0-2 in the World Series.
2. Minneapolis
Four major sports, zero championships since 1991. That’s hard to do, but Minny has managed it. The last title came compliments of the Twins in 1991. The Vikings? 0-4 in Super Bowls (I know, I know, at least they got there, but at some point you have to close the deal). The Timberwolves? Never made the NBA Finals. The Wild? One trip to the Western Conference final (2001-2002), where they got swept 4-0 by Anaheim, scoring one goal the entire series. The Twin Cities have fewer championships than any city with the four major sports.
1. Buffalo
I like Buffalo. I really do. At least more than this Western New York city likes winning championships. The good: Buffalo appeared in four consecutive Super Bowls. The bad: Lost them all. The good: The Sabres made the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals. The bad: Lost the series in six games, and to this day fans are still tortured by a blown call in the triple-overtime loss to Dallas, when Stars forward Brett Hull scored the game winner while his skate was in the crease. The goal stood and the Sabres have not reached the Final since. The worst: Well, you know… O.J.
The city’s loyal fans are still waiting to attend their first championship parade. If only Scott Norwood’s last-second field goal attempt had not sailed wide right in the 1991 Super Bowl loss to New York, the Browns would hold this spot instead of the hard-luck Bison. Oh, almost forgot to mention, Buffalo once had an NBA team, the Braves, who never reached the Finals in eight seasons before moving to – you guessed it – San Diego. Oh the humanity.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ranking the worst-performing sports cities in America
Reporting by Rob Oller, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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