With the likelihood of a move to Anaheim increasing by the day, fans of the Sacramento Kings are slowly coming to grips with the fact that there will no longer be a professional sports team in their home city. 

As frustration and despair take hold of California's capitol, our crack staff ranks the top 10 most heartbreaking losses American sports cities have had to endure.

Keep in mind we're talking about losses of franchises or players here, not in-game losses.

Will your favorite (ex-)sports city make the list?

Find out below.

 

10. Hartford Whalers

It all started 20 years ago. Hartford GM Eddie Johnston traded consistent 25-goal scorer Ron Francis, along with defensemen Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski and Jeff Parker. While Francis and Samuelsson helped lead the Penguins to two straight Stanley Cups (in 1991 and 1992), the young trio did not reach their potential in Hartford.

From then on, it was downhill for the Whalers. Hartford failed to make the playoffs from 1993 to 1997, and attendance dwindled for the unsuccessful team.

Peter Karmanos purchased the team in 1994, but could not reach a deal with the state of Connecticut to fund a new arena, and the Whalers moved to North Carolina in 1997. Coincidentally, Ron Francis signed with the Carolina Hurricanes in 1998, where he spent the last six years of his Hall of Fame career.

All Hartford fans have left are the sounds of Brass Bonanza.

- James Santelli

 

9. Charlotte

Once upon a time, the Hornets were an NBA franchise in Charlotte.  The people of Charlotte dearly loved basketball, and waited many years for a professional team of their own before getting their wish in 1988.  So dedicated to the new team were these fans that the Hornets garnered the NBA’s highest attendance rating in their inaugural season. 

After the usual struggles of an expansion team, the Hornets came into their own, drafting Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning and making several playoff appearances.

But alas, there was to be no fairy tale ending.  As owner George Shinn traded away star after star, fans became disillusioned, then enraged. In 2001, their last season in Charlotte, the Hornets’ per-game attendance was the worst in the NBA. 

By 2002, Shinn was the most hated man in Charlotte.  He speedily inked a deal to send the Hornets to New Orleans, making Charlotte, once again, an NBA-less land. 

- Kate Rooney

 

8. Houston

You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

The late Joni Mitchell sang it. Football fans in the city of Houston epitomized it.

No one will ever mistake the Oilers’ 36-year run in Texas as a period of long-standing success, but for a city that holds the game of football as close to its heart as any in the United States, the team’s sojourn down South in 1996 stung more than even Albert Pujols’  NLCS home run off Brad Lidge in 2005.

Some point the finger at disillusioned owner Bud Adams, who before becoming famous for flipping the bird to Bills fans in Tennessee, held a fire sale of pure incompetence in 1993 -- after the Oilers won 11 games and made it to the AFC Divisional Round. Fans quickly became disinterested and the franchise boasted some of the league’s worst attendance numbers between 1994 and 1996.

Others say mayor Bob Lanier should have supported Adams' plan to build a new state-of-the-art stadium for the team in downtown Houston. Instead, Lanier turned down plans for a new stadium, insisting the city had already spent enough money on renovations for the Astrodome.

For a team that won two AFL Championships and fostered the Hall of Fame careers of Earl

Cambell and Warren Moon, the Oilers' disheartening departure left a void in Space City that even the Rockets, Astros and Texans haven’t been able to fill.

- Dave Dulberg

7. Minneapolis

Without the presence of Hall of Famer George Mikan on the court (injuries forced the big man to retire in 1955, then re-retire in 1956 after a brief return to the court), the Lakers were struggling to put people in the seats. Not even the addition of fellow Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor, the man with a 1,000 moves, could draw a crowd.

The losses kept piling up, and the 1959-60 season proved to be the final straw. After a season in which the Lakers finished with a 25-50 record and lived through a snowy plane crash, then-owner Bob Short decided he had enough and moved the Lakers to Los Angeles.

The Lakers had a very successful stint in Minneapolis, winning five NBA titles, but when the going got tough the tough got going. Ultimately, that cost the Land of 10,000 Lakes one of the greatest dynasties in basketball history.

- Chris Pisar

 

6. Brooklyn

It was one of the most beloved parks in baseball history. Today, the land Ebbets Field once graced is a slum, symbolizing the urban decay in New York City.

New York, at one time, was home to three storied baseball franchises. That is, before the Dodgers and Giants left to continue their rivalry on the West Coast. Brooklyn was devastated, having lost the Dodgers because Ebbets Field was beyond worn down.

Now, the Ebbets community is a row of worn-down apartments.

Owner Walter O’Malley’s move to California left New York fans feeling betrayed. Despite the fact his team had won the World Series in 1955, and were yearly contenders, O’Malley whisked his Dodgers away from New York — the place where Jackie Robinson had just broken the color barrier -- and moved West.

- Dan Watson

 

5. Canadian Hockey Teams (1988-96)

Depending on your rooting interest, this eight-year period was one of the best times for Canadian NHL fans. Calgary won its first and only Stanley Cup in 1989. Montreal won its 24th in 1993. Ottawa was awarded the Senators franchise after being without an NHL team for almost 60 years. There was a flip side, though. From 1988 to 1996, three Canadian cities either lost a legendary player or lost its team altogether.

In August of 1988, Edmonton Oilers fans were shocked by the trade of eight-time Hart Trophy winner, and Canadian native son, Wayne Gretzky, to the L.A. Kings. Seven years later, a combination of the weakening Canadian dollar and rising player salaries forced the small-market Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets to move to Denver and Phoenix, respectively. The pain was made worse when Nordiques fans, who never saw their team win a title in Quebec, watched the Colorado Avalanche raise the Cup in their first season in Denver.

- James Santelli

 

4. Seattle

Though the well-documented departure of their beloved Sonics is still a source of frustration for Seattleites, that loss isn't the only heartbreak they’ve endured. Since the Sonics debuted in 1967, the city has seen a grand total of one championship (Sonics, 1979) in the big three sports. For Seattleites, the losing itself hasn't been nearly as painful as the way it has occurred. The 2001 Seattle Mariners tied a major league record with 116 regular season wins, and were being compared with the best teams in baseball history, before losing in five games to the Yankees in the ALCS. The 2006 Seahawks raised similar expectations by having their best season ever on their way to the Super Bowl before losing in perhaps the most egregiously officiated football game ever. And then, of course, there’s the heist of the Sonics by the man whose name still incites rage within all Seattleites: Clay Bennett.

- Johnie Freatman

3. Los Angeles

L.A. is the second largest market in the United States. You'd think they'd have a football team, right? Well between 1982 and 1994 they did. Actually, they had two: the Raiders (now in Oakland) and the Rams (now in St. Louis).

The Rams were the first NFL team in Los Angeles, having moved to Southern California from Cleveland in 1946 -- well before the NFL/AFL merger. They originally played their home games at the L.A. Coliseum, but they moved to a smaller more NFL fit stadium in Anaheim in 1980. The Raiders then came from Oakland to the Coliseum in 1982 because, well, Al Davis is Al Davis and he wanted to prove a point to Oakland.

In 1994, after multiple seasons with two teams to cheer for, not one but both teams split, leaving Los Angeles without a team to support. People speculate that L.A. hasn’t missed the NFL because the city has a team in just about every other sport. But to this day there are still hardcore Raiders and Rams fans who long for the days when the Coliseum was the center of the Black Hole, or the "Fearsome Foursome" terrorized offenses at Anaheim Stadium. L.A. came close to bringing a team back in 1999, but the deal fell through and Houston got the franchise instead.

As an L.A. native, I can only hope the city has learned from its mistakes and can finally bring America's favorite sport back home.

- Victor Marticorena

 

2. Cleveland

Cleveland is one of the most consistently heartbroken cities of all time. It all started in 1976 when the NHL moved the California Golden Seals to Cleveland, changing their name to the Cleveland Barons. This, however, was a short-lived move. The franchise was struggling financially, so in 1978, the NHL approved the merger of the Barons with another financially weak team in the Minnesota North Stars.

Guess which team got to stay where they were?

Needless to say, the NHL has not returned to Cleveland since.

Fast forward to 1996. The Cleveland Browns, one of the NFL’s oldest and more successful teams, had been struggling. In a decision that had to be settled in court, owner Art Modell had the franchise pack its bags and move to Baltimore. The courts decided that the Browns' name and legacy would remain with Cleveland, leading to the name change in Baltimore to the Ravens. However, this was small consolation to Cleveland fans who had been so loyal to the franchise.

Fortunately for them, the NFL brought a new team back to Cleveland in 1999. The franchise hasn't been the same since -- they've had consistent losing seasons. Fast forward again to 2010 and the latest episode of the soap opera known as Cleveland professional sports.

The Cleveland Cavaliers struck gold in 2003 when they drafted local product 18-year-old LeBron James. In his seven seasons there, the franchise went from being one of the worst in the league to one of the best. But then July 2010 came around, and James announced he would be taking his talents to South Beach.

When LeBron left, he turned the franchise on its head. Cleveland went from the first team to reach 40 wins in 2010 to the first team to reach 40 losses in 2011.

The Browns left (and were replaced). LeBron left (and was not). I can’t even imagine what the Indians could do to this city to further disappoint them.

- Victor Marticorena

 

1. Baltimore

The night of March 29, 1984 is one the people of Baltimore will remember forever. That was the night Colts owner Robert Irsay and his team filled moving vans and fled to Indianapolis, crushing a city and its fans.

It wasn't just your typical relocation either.  It was sudden, unannounced and stealth. Do a Google Image search of "Colts leave Baltimore" and the first seven images you'll see are of a Mayflower moving truck speeding away on a dark snowy night. When the people of Baltimore woke up, their team was gone.

In 1996 Baltimore got an NFL team again. Art Modell brought his Browns franchise to town (see No. 2) and renamed them the Baltimore Ravens. 

On January 28, 2001, the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV, allowing the people of Baltimore to finally get over their bitter breakup with the Colts.

- Scott Enyeart