The Golden State Warriors beat LeBron James and the Cavaliers again last night, and Cleveland’s championship drought is a loss away from continuing. The Cleveland Browns won an NFL title in 1964 (two years before they had the first Super Bowl game) and Cleveland hasn’t won anything since.
By my count, that’s 47 seasons without a championship for the Browns, 50 for the Cleveland Indians and 45 for the Cavaliers. Toss in two seasons for the NHL Cleveland Barons (1976-1978) and Cleveland has gone 144 straight seasons without a title in football, baseball, basketball or hockey.
If and when Cleveland ever gets over the hump, it likely will be Buffalo or San Diego that moves into the bottom spot. Both Buffalo and San Diego won AFL titles in the mid-‘60s, and I’m not sure whether to count those or not. It was a secondary league to the NFL, but an AFL title might be considered to be on par with a Stanley Cup. Regardless, Buffalo has gone 103 straight seasons without a championship either way (it won the last AFL title before the first Super Bowl). The Chargers won an AFL title in 1963, so if you want to count that one, then give them two more AFL non-championship seasons to move them to 104 straight.
Minnesota, Atlanta and Washington are the other markets that are way up there.
For the following seasons, I didn’t know how to count seasons cut short by labor problems. There was a missing World Series in the ‘90s, and the 2005 NHL season was completely canceled. I just counted those as unsuccessful, non-championship seasons, but you can adjust those as you see fit.
Regardless, some cities are long-overdue for a title.
| 50 SEASONS WITHOUT A MAJOR SPORTS TITLE | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City / market | Last champ | MLB | NFL | NBA | NHL | Total |
| Cleveland | 1964 Browns | 50 | 47 | 45 | 2 | 144 |
| Buffalo | no titles | -- | 49 | 9 | 45 | 103 |
| San Diego | no titles | 46 | 49 | 7 | -- | 102 |
| Minneapolis | 1991 Twins | 23 | 24 | 24 | 19 | 90 |
| Washington | 1992 NFL | 10 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 79 |
| Atlanta | 1995 Braves | 19 | 20 | 20 | 12 | 71 |
| Toronto | 1993 Blue Jays | 22 | -- | 22 | 22 | 66 |
| Kansas City | 1985 Royals | 29 | 30 | -- | -- | 59 |
| Houston | 1995 Rockets | 19 | 14 | 20 | -- | 53 |
—Ian Allan