Division Title Droughts in Professional Sports

Post Highlights

• The Los Angeles Clippers have the longest (41 years) current division title drought in major professional sports.

• The city of Houston hasn’t had a pro team win a division title in the last ten years (since 2001).  It’s currently the longest division title drought by any city with two or more professional sports teams.  They were previously tied with the city of Milwaukee.

• In the last few years the sports world has seen some of the longest division title droughts get snapped (i.e. Milwaukee Brewers 2011, 29 years).  In 2008, the Arizona Cardinals snapped a 33-year division title drought.  In 2009, the Cleveland Cavaliers also snapped a 33-year division title drought.

 

This has been the season for breaking division title droughts in baseball.  A week ago the Detroit Tigers won their first division title in 24 years, and last night the Milwaukee Brewers won their first division title in 29 years.   Before this season the Brewers and Tigers both had two of the ten longest division title droughts in the four major professional sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL).

Longest Current Division Title Droughts in Professional Sports

Important Note: What is a division? For the purpose of this article, a division was defined by a sub-group within a conference.  Meaning that even though it was called the Eastern Division in the AFL from 1960-1969, I didn’t count it as a division, since it wasn’t a sub-group within a conference.

First year of divisions (sub-groups within conferences): MLB: 1969, NBA: 1970-71, NFL: 1967/1970 (AFC), NHL: 1974-75

Only regular season division championships were counted for the NHL.

Years	Last	Team	League
41	-	Los Angeles Clippers	NBA
35	1975-76	Golden State Warriors	NBA
32	1978-79	Washington Wizards	NBA
32	-	Phoenix Coyotes	NHL
30	1981 ¹	Washington Nationals	MLB
26	1985	Kansas City Royals	MLB
24	1986-87	Edmonton Oilers	NHL
23	1987-88	New York Islanders	NHL
21	1989	Cleveland Browns	NFL
20	1990-91	Los Angeles Kings	NHL
19	1992	Pittsburgh Pirates	MLB
18	-	Colorado Rockies	MLB
18	-	Florida Marlins	MLB
18	1993	Toronto Blue Jays	MLB
17	1993-94	Atlanta Hawks	NBA
17	1993-94	Houston Rockets	NBA
17	1993-94	New York Knicks	NBA
17	1993	Detroit Lions	NFL
17	1993-94	New York Rangers	NHL
15	-	Memphis Grizzlies	NBA

¹ In 1981 MLB played a split-season.  The then Montreal Expos won their division in the second half of the split-season.

The Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos have the longest (30 years) current division title drought in MLB.

Longest Current Division Title Droughts in MLB

Years	Last	Team
30	1981	Washington Nationals
26	1985	Kansas City Royals
19	1992	Pittsburgh Pirates
18	-	Colorado Rockies
18	-	Florida Marlins
18	1993	Toronto Blue Jays
14	1997	Baltimore Orioles
10	2001	Houston Astros
10	2001	Seattle Mariners
6	2005	Atlanta Braves

The Los Angeles Clippers have the longest (41 years) current division title drought in the NBA.

Longest Current Division Title Droughts in the NBA

Years	Last	Team
41	-	Los Angeles Clippers
35	1975-76	Golden State Warriors
32	1978-79	Washington Wizards
17	1993-94	Atlanta Hawks
17	1993-94	Houston Rockets
17	1993-94	New York Knicks
15	-	Memphis Grizzlies
12	1998-99	Portland Trail Blazers
10	2000-01	Milwaukee Bucks
10	2000-01	Philadelphia 76ers

The Cleveland Browns have the longest (21 years) current division title drought in the NFL.

Longest Current Division Title Droughts in the NFL

Years	Last	Team
21	1989	Cleveland Browns ¹
17	1993	Detroit Lions
15	1995	Buffalo Bills
11	1999	Jacksonville Jaguars
11	1999	Washington Redskins
8	2002	Houston Texans
8	2002	New York Jets
8	2002	Oakland Raiders
8	2002	San Francisco 49ers
7	2003	St. Louis Rams

¹ The Cleveland Browns suspended operations from 1996-99.

The Phoenix Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets (I) have the longest (21 years) current division title drought in the NHL.

Longest Current Division Title Droughts in the NHL

Note: Only regular season division championships were counted for the NHL.

Years	Last	Team
32	-	Phoenix Coyotes
24	1986-87	Edmonton Oilers
23	1987-88	New York Islanders
20	1990-91	Los Angeles Kings
17	1993-94	New York Rangers
12	1998-99	Nashville Predators
11	1999-2000	St. Louis Blues
11	1999-2000	Toronto Maple Leafs
10	2000-01	Columbus Blue Jackets
8	2002-03	Colorado Avalanche

Additional Facts

The city of Houston hasn’t had a pro team win a division title in the last ten years (since 2001).  It’s currently the longest division title drought by any city with two or more professional sports teams.  They were previously tied with the city of Milwaukee.

In the last few years the sports world has seen some of the longest division title droughts get snapped.  In 2008, the Arizona Cardinals snapped a 33-year division title drought.  In 2009, the Cleveland Cavaliers also snapped a 33-year division title drought.

Reference: Sports-Reference.com

Winning Their “First” Titles Back to Back

Last night South Carolina won their program’s second ever College World Series title and they did it in consecutive seasons.  Below is a simple list I put together showing all instances where a major sports franchise/program won their first ever titles in back to back seasons.

Baseball
Team	Lge/Org	Championships
Chicago Cubs	MLB	1907-08
Philadelphia Athletics	MLB	1910-11
Toronto Blue Jays	MLB	1992-93
Texas	NCAA Div I	1949-50
Stanford	NCAA Div I	1987-88
Oregon St	NCAA Div I	2006-07
South Carolina	NCAA Div I	2010-11
Basketball
Team	Lge/Org	Championships
Chicago Bulls	NBA	1991-93
Houston Rockets	NBA	1994-95
Akron Firestone Non-Skids	NBL	1939-40
Oshkosh All-Stars	NBL	1941-42
Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons	NBL	1944-45
Oklahoma St	NCAA Men’s Div I	1945-46
Kentucky	NCAA Men’s Div I	1948-49
San Francisco	NCAA Men’s Div I	1955-56
Cincinnati	NCAA Men’s Div I	1961-62
UCLA	NCAA Men’s Div I	1964-65
Duke	NCAA Men’s Div I	1991-92
Florida	NCAA Men’s Div I	2006-07
USC	NCAA Women’s Div I	1983-84
Football
Team	Lge/Org	Championships
Canton Bulldogs	NFL	1922-23
Green Bay Packers	NFL	1929-31
Philadelphia Eagles	NFL	1948-49
Baltimore Colts	NFL	1958-59
Miami Dolphins	NFL	1972-73
Pittsburgh Steelers	NFL	1974-75
Denver Broncos	NFL	1997-98
Houston Oilers	AFL	1960-61
Buffalo Bills	AFL	1964-65
Cleveland Browns	AAFC	1946-49
Army	NCAA Div I-FBS	1944-45
Nebraska	NCAA Div I-FBS	1970-71
Hockey
Team	Lge/Org	Championships
Ottawa Senators	NHL	1920-21
Detroit Red Wings	NHL	1936-37
Philadelphia Flyers	NHL	1974-75
New York Islanders	NHL	1980-83
Edmonton Oilers	NHL	1984-85
Pittsburgh Penguins	NHL	1991-92
Houston Aeros	WHA	1974-75
Boston U	NCAA Div I	1971-72

 

Reference: Sports-Reference: BB, BK, FB, HK, SportsDelve.com’s National Champions Database

 

NCAA/NAIA National Championships: Database & Miscellaneous Facts

As promised I have released an online database which contains a record for every official NCAA/NAIA team national champion.  You can check out the database here.  After this year’s Division I College World Series, I will update/correct the database of champions after every season (fall, winter, spring).

As I wrap up the launch of this project, I thought it would be fun to look over some trivial facts about national champions.

Just an important reminder that only NCAA/NAIA officially sponsored championship sports were included in the study.  To see a detailed list of sports included click here.  Vacated championship weren’t counted.

Seeing as schools from the state of California have won the most national championships, it’s fairly predictable that the two largest California metro areas (L.A. and San Francisco) would also lead the nation in national championships. Check out the list below.

Rk	Metro Area	Championships	NCAA	NAIA
1	Los Angeles (CA)	360	313	47
2	San Francisco (CA)	142	139	3
3	Oklahoma City (OK)	83	33	50
4	Philadelphia (PA)	78	78
5	New York (NY)	73	70	3
6	Abilene (TX)	69	60	9
7	St. Louis (MO)	65	47	18
8	Minneapolis (MN)	63	51	12
9	Vancouver (BC)	59		59
18	Stillwater (OK)	47	47
10t	Chicago (IL)	57	47	10
10t	Mount Vernon (OH)	57	57
12t	Alamosa (CO)	51	25	26
12t	Ann Arbor (MI)	51	38	13
12t	Baton Rouge (LA)	51	45	6
12t	Durham (NC)	51	50	1
16t	Austin (TX)	50	47	3
16t	Trenton (NJ)	50	48	2
19t	Houston (TX)	46	18	28
19t	Miami (FL)	46	32	14
21t	Fayetteville (AR)	42	41	1
21t	San Diego (CA)	42	34	8
21t	Seattle (WA)	42	17	25
24t	La Crosse (WI)	41	34	7
24t	Oshkosh (WI)	41	32	9
24t	State College (PA)	41	41

Using 2009 population estimates retrieved from Wikipedia, it shows that Indianapolis is the largest metro area without a national championship.  In the last two years Butler not only came close to bringing home their schools first national championship (runner-up in NCAA Men’s Basketball), but also their city’s.

Public schools have won 58% of all national championships.  Check out the breakdown below.

Type	Championships	NCAA I	NCAA II	NCAA III	NAIA I	NAIA II
Private	1869	484	303	502	525	55
Public	2572	1198	576	308	478	12

I thought it would be fun to create a figure that divides school enrollment by championships won.  I used Fall 2009 semester enrollment figures provided by the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences.  Kenyon (OH) leads the list with a championship per every 28.6 students.

Rk	School	Enrollment	Students Per Champion
1	Kenyon (OH)	1633	28.6
2	St. Augustine’s (NC)	1529	49.3
3	Adams St (CO)	3121	61.2
4	Abilene Christian (TX)	4813	74.0
5	Middlebury (VT)	2482	85.6
6	Williams (MA)	2141	85.6
7	Methodist (NC)	2183	87.3
8	Florida Southern	2426	89.9
9	Central St (OH)	2436	90.2
10	Oklahoma City	3829	106.4
11	North Central (IL)	2798	107.6
12	Kentucky Wesleyan	876	109.5
13	BYU-Hawaii	2586	112.4
14	Lynn (FL)	2224	117.1
15	Lubbock Christian (TX)	1906	136.1

The largest school in the NCAA/NAIA to never have won a national championship is Ashford (IA).  Ashford (IA) had an official enrollment of 46,835 students for the Fall 2009 semester.  Mainly due to it’s for-profit online degree programs.

Principia (IL) is the smallest school to have ever won a national championships.  Principia’s Fall 2009 enrollment was 527.  They won the 1983 NCAA Division III women’s title.


There are four schools which no longer exist that have won national championships.

School	Sport	Year(s)	Org	Div
George Williams (WI)	Men’s Volleyball	1974, 77, 78	NAIA	I
Hawaii Loa	Softball	1991	NAIA	I
Southern Benedictine (AL)	Men’s Golf	1971	NAIA	I
Tarkio (MO)	Men’s Basketball	1940	NAIA	I

It’s important to keep in mind that championships sponsored by the NCAA and NAIA make up only a part of the “national championships” won every year.  Check out this Wikipedia article for a listing of other intercollegiate national champions.  The NJCAA sponsors national championships for junior colleges.  Be sure to check out their record book section for more on the topic.


Reference:  Sources used to compile list of NCAA/NAIA national champions.