The Magic returned to the Eastern Conference Finals the next season, losing to the Celtics 4-2. Since then they have had only 7 winning seasons and 4 playoff appearances, never getting past the second round (most recently in 2017-18 when they lost 34-14 to the defending champion New England Patriots). 1. Over the last 25 years, 62.7% of cities have won a championship in either the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, or MLS. The Cubs last win came in 1945 against the . What is the longest championship drought ever? They returned to the AFC Championship in 2002-03, losing to the Oakland Raiders 41-24. The Royals beat the New York Knicks in seven games to win the 1951 NBA Finals. They have two teams but took a World Series home in 1990. Since 1984, a drought has existed in the United States. Here is how they compare to those 12. Thats it youll save money, take back control, and enjoy TV more! This drought started in 1966 and has been ongoing for 57 years. List of NFL franchise post-season droughts, AFC/NFC Championship Game appearance droughts, Super Bowl or NFL championship appearance droughts, Super Bowl or NFL championship win droughts, Cities/regions awaiting first Super Bowl crown, Closest approaches without winning the Super Bowl, Longest NFL / AFL / Super Bowl championship droughts through history, Longest NFL / AFL / Super Bowl championship appearance droughts through history, Playoff droughts of at least five seasons, Most consecutive post-season losses in team history, Longest post-season droughts in team history, Last edited on 13 February 2023, at 03:43, claimed an unrecognized 1921 championship, Chicago/St. It snaps a decade-long absence from October baseball, a step in the right direction for the franchise. The NBA team with the longest championship drought is the sad-Sack-ramento Kings, who last won the league championship in 1951 as the (wait for it) Rochester Royals . In the event of a tie, the location with fewer total professional championships was ranked higher. Then in the Super Bowl, they almost pulled off another miracle, as Kevin Dyson (who scored the Music City Miracle) was stopped a foot shy of a game-tying touchdown on the final play of the game. Then Hulu started and he was hooked. The NFL's longest current drought is held by the Oakland Raiders, who have not won a championship since 1972. After that promising start, they have had only four winning seasons and three playoff appearances since 1999. Having played more seasons naturally makes it more likely that a team would win a championship at some point. The Padres have the distinction of holding the longest championship drought that no one gives a shit about. Things looked promising after they took a 7-0 on their first drive, but then the Philadelphia Eagles shut them down en route to a 38-7 win. Updated with completion of NFL season ending in 2023. The Sabres made it to the Conference Finals in 2006 and 2007, but have not won a playoff series since then. We see many teams continuing their hist. Today, he streams pretty much everything while his library of thousands of Blu-rays and DVDs collects dust. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Ottawa. Nashville became a major league city in 1998 when the NFLs Tennessee Oilers moved from Memphis (they became the Titans the following season) and the Nashville Predators debuted as an NHL expansion team. The Detroit Lions, are one of seven teams without a Super Bowl win. Here is a look at the longest active championship droughts, all of which go back to at least 1998. A handful of teams have finally gotten over the hump in recent years and ended. In their last appearance, the Vikings were playing for a chance to play in the Super Bowl to be held in Minneapolis. The Hornets would move to New Orleans after the 2002 season. Here are some of sports' longest-standing droughts for things other than championships. The Sacramento skyline, as seen fromThe ZigguratinWest Sacramento, California. Here are the U.S. and Canadian metros with the longest active championship droughts. Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports. (61), Milwaukee Brewers (53) and San Diego Padres (53). The Maple Leafs have now gone 55 years without being crowned NHL champions. 2023 HotDog.com | 1013 Centre Road, Suite 403S Wilmington, New Castle, Delaware, 19805. He specializes in technology, business, and film/television. Orlando has only one active team, the, The most recent championship for Calgary was the, The most recent championship for Indianapolis was the, The most recent championship for Edmonton was the, There have been no championships in San Jose history. 2023 Cable News Network. Unfortunately for the Padres, they faced the New York Yankees, who at 114-48 had posted the second-best record in Major League history. In this installment, we cover the 10 cities who have not seen a championship in 20 years or more in any major sport San Diego, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Sacramento, Charlotte, Orlando, Cincinnati, the Twin Cities, Jacksonville, and Nashville. src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=674090812743125&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>. A good VPN provides extra security and unequalled privacy for everything you do online. But there is one important caveat: most of these cities have not had pro sports franchises for very long. Despite owning a dominant team, the Lakers have yet to win an NBA championship since 1988. And some of these droughts are especially surprising. Three more MLB teams have World Series droughts that extend 50-plus years: the Texas Rangers (61), Milwaukee Brewers (53) and San Diego Padres (53). Related: MLB power rankings 2022 Houston Astros, New York Yankees battle for No.1 spot. The Rochester Royals, now known as the Sacramento Kings, won the NBA Finals in 1951. The Buffalo Sabres made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in only their 5th season in 1974-75, led by Hall of Fame Center Gilbert Perreault They lost to the defending champion Philadelphia Flyers 4-2, who clinched Game 6 in Buffalo with a 2-0 win. Milwaukee since has made two National League Championship Series appearances. In 2015, the MLS added Orlando FC, which has yet to qualify for the playoffs. The club they defeated, the Indians, still maintains the record for the longest World Series drought in baseball history. Your email address will not be published. When the Cubs rallied from a 3-1 World Series deficit and then broke a 6-6 tie in the 10th inning Wednesday, they broke, as we all know, the longest championship . A citys sports misfortunes can come in different forms. Pittsburgh Pirates - 6 years. The team left town in 1934. The Padres were the last San Diego team with a shot at a title. Sacramento is the 27th largest metropolitan area with a 2017 population of 2,324,884. Tennessee Titans. 11/4/2016. Atlanta Hawks - 63 years. The Phoenix Suns have the longest championship drought by a team without a single title. Buffalos drought tops the next-highest city by nine years, and only two other cities besides Buffalo have championship droughts longer than 50 years. Guardians: 74 seasons (Last title in 1948) Cleveland has had its chances during this time, but it lost World Series in 1954, '95, '97 and 2016 -- four of the club's 12 postseason appearances since beating the Boston Braves in the 1948 Fall . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Ten Major Cities With Longest Championship Droughts. While the Seattle Mariners are far behind some others in the length of their title drought, they are in MLB history for another unfortunate reason. The franchise is 0-4 in potential championship clinchers over its past two trips to the Series, having squandered a 3-1 advantage to the Cubs in 2016. Since then the Bills have won only one playoff game the 1995 Wild Card game. A championship is listed as winning an NFL Championship (19201969), AFL Championship (19601969), and Super Bowl Championship (1966present). Cincinnati is the 29th largest metropolitan area with a 2017 population of 2,179,082. You can see his writing on low-budget and weird film at, Cities With the Longest Active Championship Droughts, Metros With the Longest Active Championship Droughts, Cities With the Most Professional Sports Championships, Cities With the Longest NBA Championship Droughts of All Time. But if youre not going to count those as championships then you have to start counting years with the start of Super Bowls. The organizations last championship came in 1951, when the team was the Rochester Royals. Longest playoff drought - New York Jets: With the Browns and Bucs both having made the playoffs in 2020, the Jets now own the longest drought, not having appeared in a postseason contest since the 2010 AFC Championship Game. While championship droughts are the focus, some fan bases have gone more than a decade without even seeing their team in the playoffs. Since then the Bills have won only one playoff game - the 1995 Wild Card game. New York then lost in the Finals three times from 1999 to 2002. Milwaukees only championships in the modern era are from the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks. The franchise was originally based in Los Angeles, but moved to Oakland prior to the 1982 season. How else could he watch one to two films every day? Longest NFL / AFL / Super Bowl championship appearance droughts through history. He started streaming early, back in 2007 when Netflix introduced what seemed revolutionary even then, "instant watch," or what would eventually become the totality of the company. The Bucks were in their third year as a franchise and were led by MVP Kareen Abdul-Jabbar in his second season, Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson and the great power forward Bob Dandridge. The Twins havent advanced past the LDS round since 02. Boston went 21 years without winning the NBA Finals from 1986-2007. It is the longest playoff drought in NBA history, surpassing the Los Angeles Clippers (15, 1977-19992) and Minnesota Timberwolves (13, 2005-18). Around a quarter (25.5%) have never won a championship, but one important caveat is that most of these cities have not had pro sports franchises for very long. No city currently compares to Clevelands legendary sports curse, but many pro sports markets have nonetheless seen lengthy championship droughts in recent years. The T-Wolves fell 4-2 to the defending champions Los Angeles Lakers. 12. Each season begins with optimism across the 30 MLB fanbases, and each one ends with some level of disappointment for 29 of them. Researchers at HotDog.com ranked U.S. and Canadian metropolitan areas according to active professional sports championship droughts. It has been home to the NFLs San Diego Chargers (now Los Angeles Chargers), the NBAs San Diego Rockets (now Houston Rockets), San Diego Clippers (now Los Angeles Clippers) and briefly a second home for the Golden State Warriors, the ABAs San Diego Conquistadors, the NASLs San Diego Sockers (defunct) and the San Diego Padres. The team was an original WNBA team as the Utah Starzz starting in 1997 before turning into the San Antonio Silver Stars in 2003 and the Aces in 2018. The longest drought since a championship of any kind is that of the Cardinals, at 75 seasons. This is also a list of the last time a particular club won a divisional playoff game. Active droughts are listed in bold type Sacramento has only one active team, the, The most recent championship for Miami was the, The most recent championship for Ottawa was the, There have been no championships in Orlando history. The Sacramento Kings have the longest championship drought in the NBA and one of the longest playoff droughts in American sports. The second came in 1948 with manager Lou Boudreau calling the shots and Bob Lemon and Bob Feller manning the mound. The Cleveland Cavaliers snapped a 52-year championship drought June 19, 2016, when they toppled the Golden State Warriors in a best-of-seven series. Advertisement. Memphis has only one active team, the, The most recent championship for Baltimore was the, The most recent championship for Philadelphia was the, The most recent championship for Seattle was the, The most recent championship for Cleveland was the, The most recent championship for Raleigh was the, The most recent championships for Boston were the, The most recent championship for Pittsburgh was the, There have been no championships in Oklahoma City history. Your email address will not be published. After the Maple Leafs, the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks share the second-longest Cup drought at 51 years. 6 seed. As a one-sport city, Sacramento lives and dies by its Kings. Listed here are both appearance droughts and winning droughts in almost every level of the NFL playoff system. The Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Tennessee Titans, Los Angeles Chargers, Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills are the other franchises that were in existence before the Super Bowl era that have yet to take home the Lombardi Trophy. General manager Billy Beanes innovative roster strategies have kept the As competitive on small-market budgets, particularly during the clubs Moneyball period in the early 2000s, but the franchise has reached just two ALCS since last winning the World Series in 1989. The last championship in San Diego was the 1963 AFL Championship where the Chargers beat the Boston Patriots 51-10. Frank loves video. The Las Vegas Aces organization also has never won an WNBA title in its 25-year history. Blue Jays: 29 seasons (Last title in 1993)The road to the World Series title ran through Toronto at the beginning of the 1990s, but dynastic days north of the border subsided at the turn of the millennium. Shaq would leave for the Lakers the next season and it would not be until 2008-2009 that the Magic would return to the conference finals. After their initial season, the Jaguars went 45-19 over the next four seasons, making the playoffs each year and the AFC Championship twice (losing to the Patriots 20-6 in 1996-97 and the Titans 33-14 in 1999-2000). With the Mariners getting the monkey off their back, here are the 12 active longest postseason droughts between the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL . Things looked promising for the Magic when they landed Shaquille ONeal with the #1 pick in the 1992 NBA Draft. Very little work got done in 2008. This is a sortable table of all 32 current NFL teams.