By Cullen Tonge

Aside from 2020, the last five years in sports have been absolutely incredible. Impossible buzzer-beaters, crazy individual efforts, and growing fanbases are all a part of the world of sports and I am so thankful for that.

As a Buffalo fan, we have definitely had our tough times. However, just like the people of our city, the teams are blue-collar and have battled to keep Buffalo prominent in the world of sports. Unfortunately, it seems as though there are some cities around the country that haven’t done the same and it’s a shame.

Some cities have great sports teams, some have awful ones, and others have a mix, like Buffalo. I thought I would take a look at the worst cities and eventually do the best. In this article, you will find 10-6 of the worst.

The criteria is quite simple: success, or in this case, lack thereof, of the teams since 2016 in the four major leagues.  These four sports are NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL. This is all my opinion and I hope some discussion can come of it.

10 Worst Sports Cities

10. Indianapolis, Indiana

The state of Indiana is a great state for college sports. Notre Dame, Purdue, Indiana, Butler, and Valparaiso are all well-known universities in the sports world. Professionally, however, there isn’t much. Indianapolis is home to the Pacers of the NBA and Colts of the NFL. Not much comes to mind when you think of those two teams over the last five years, but when you look deeper, you will see a good amount of success, but not enough to keep them off this list. The Pacers have made the playoffs five out of the last five years which yes, is impressive. But they’ve done it in the Eastern Conference which has been much weaker than the West and haven’t advanced at all. Not once in those five appearances have the Pacers made it past the first round and have been swept 4-0 in three of those series. The Colts have also been decent. They have had two playoff appearances since 2016 and are only 1-2 in those games. They seem to always make some noise because of potential, but aside from making the AFC Championship game in 2014, they haven’t been the same since Peyton Manning left.

9. Seattle, Washington

When I thought about Seattle, I was like, there is no way they could be on the list. It felt like the Seahawks have been so dominant over the last decade that they would cancel out how bad the Mariners had been. Then I did some research, and I was very surprised. Yes, the Seahawks have been very good, but not as good as you might think. They haven’t made it to a conference championship since 2014 when they ended up losing the Super Bowl. In 2016 and 2019, they lost in the Divisional round and in 2018 and 2020, they lost in the Wild Card. See, not as good as you think they’ve been. However, if they had been worse, the city of Seattle would be much higher on this list because the Mariners have just been pitiful. They haven’t made the playoffs in 20 years and haven’t even had any stars win any sort of awards aside from a few Golden Gloves. Other than that, the Mariners bring down Seattle a lot and they are the major reason the Emerald City find a spot on the list.

8. Buffalo, New York

As a Buffalo fan, I hate that I have to put them on this list. However, I feel that it is necessary. Only having two professional teams in the four major leagues hurts Buffalo a lot and I know many of you might be thinking, “Oh, the Buffalo Blue Jays!”. Unfortunately, I do not consider them a Buffalo team yet and they also only played one season in Buffalo and didn’t even win a game in the Wild Card. We all know the Sabres have been absolutely terrible over the past five seasons. Their combined record from the 2016-17 season through the 2019-20 season is 121-152-42. That’s only a 38% winning record and on top of that, they haven’t had a season over .500 since the 2011-12 season. Now we move to the Bills. Perhaps with a little bias, they are the primary reason Buffalo isn’t higher on this list. Three playoff appearances over the last five years is impressive, but the first two weren’t that great. A 10-3 loss to the Jaguars in the Wild Card in 2017 and then the loss to the Texans in 2019. That loss included the blowing of a 16-0 lead which I have determined a major factor in including them on the list. Last season was great and now the Bills are looked at as a top team in the entire league, but the years prior to that, they weren’t even close to as good as they are now.

7. Atlanta, Georgia

This is the first city that has more than two teams that can impact my decision. The Falcons, Braves, and Hawks all reside in Gate City and over the last five years, there hasn’t been much to celebrate. I’m going to bring it up first to get it out of the way. I don’t care that the Falcons made it to the Super Bowl in 2017 because they blew a 28-3 lead. That was absolutely brutal, and I wish I could put them higher just because of that. Since that loss, they have been irrelevant. The Falcons made the playoffs the following season and haven’t even won half of their games since. The Braves are a major reason the city of Atlanta isn’t higher. They’ve had three straight playoff appearances including a trip to the NL Championship Series last year in which they blew a 3-1 lead against the eventual champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Ronald Acuna is the real deal and has a real shot at being the face of baseball pretty soon and could single-handedly take Atlanta off this list. Atlanta seemed to flip what team was good. Like I mentioned, the Braves have made the playoffs three straight years. The Hawks haven’t made the playoffs in three years. They have a good young core right now and currently sit in a playoff position, but aside from a couple playoff appearances in 2016 and 2017, they haven’t been relevant over the last five years. 

6. Charlotte (Carolina), North Carolina

North Carolina is home to the Charlotte Hornets, the Carolina Panthers, and the Carolina Hurricanes. To start, the Hornets haven’t been that good since they became the Hornets again in 2014. However, they have been turning the page over the last couple of seasons. They have finished just a couple games out of playoff spot in the East the last two years and are currently looking to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season. They currently sit at fourth in the East and seem to be in good hands for the future. The Panthers had their successes from 2015 to 2017 and then absolutely fell off. They had great overall teams and over the past few years, haven’t been able to live up to expectations. Regardless, they made it to a Super Bowl and had another playoff appearance and are a big reason their hometown isn’t higher on the list. The Hurricanes, even though they aren’t from Charlotte, are part of this area. Over the last five years, the Canes haven’t been amazing. Just two years ago they ended a nine-year playoff drought when they made it to the conference finals only to be swept. Last season, they lost in the first round of the playoffs. It seems that they are on the right track for the foreseeable future, but until the rest of their region can get their act up, Charlotte will be on this list.