San Diego Sports Curse The San Diego sports curse is a superstition cited for the city of San Diego ' s inability to claim a modern North American major league professional sports championship ( Super Bowl , World Series , Stanley Cup , and NBA Finals ) . With a population of over one million , San Diego is the largest city in the United States with this distinction . San Diego also has the distinction of having the longest major league championship drought for any city that has at least two major sports franchises , the last title dating back to 1963 . The San Diego teams with losing records during their tenure in the city are the Padres ( 2 , 886 wins - 3 , 330 losses ) , the Clippers ( 186 wins - 306 losses ) , and Rockets ( 119 wins - 209 losses ) . Only the Chargers , at 392 - 385 - 11 through January 2 , 2012 , have a winning record during their tenure in the city . In comparison to other notable sports curses . The last major league sports championship for San Diego was the AFL Championship in 1963 , when the San Diego Chargers emerged as AFL champions before the AFL merged with the NFL to form the current National Football League . In comparison , in Cleveland , another cursed city , the Browns last won an NFL Championship in 1964 . Since then , no other team from that city has won a major professional sports championship . The city of Buffalo is also similarly affected by an alleged curse , having last won an AFL Championship in 1965 ( incidentally , the Bills defeated the Chargers for both of their AFL titles ) . In both San Diego ' s and Buffalo ' s cases , there is considerable debate as to how Buffalo or San Diego would have fared had the Super Bowl existed by 1963 . Other notable sports curses affect only specific teams , such as the Chicago White Sox ' s Curse of the Black Sox and the Chicago Cubs ' Curse of the Billy Goat . San Diego ' s sports curse , by contrast , affects all professional teams in the city and county of San Diego , much like Curse of Billy Penn and Curse of the Inauguration in Philadelphia . Neither the San Diego Padres nor the San Diego Chargers have ever won a championship in their current league , nor has any other major sports team that has been based in the city , including the San Diego Clippers and San Diego Rockets of the NBA and the San Diego Conquistadors of the American Basketball Association ( ABA ) prior to the 1976 ABA - NBA merger . The Lore . The cause of the curse has been debated . One is thought to be the trade of Chargers wide receiver Lance Alworth to the Dallas Cowboys in 1970 , which is similar to Boston ' s Curse of the Bambino in that the flip side of the curse was the Cowboys ' success after the transaction . Dallas went from being a perennial loser in championship games over the previous five seasons ( the Ice Bowl , Super Bowl V ) to a team that won the Super Bowl during Alworth ' s first season there ( and has won five Super Bowls overall ) , gaining the distinction of " America ' s Team . " In contrast , the Chargers never made an appearance in the Super Bowl until the 1994 NFL season , where they were defeated by the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX . Another explanation for the curse would involve the 1963 AFL champion Chargers . Following the Chargers ' 1963 championship , head coach Sid Gillman approached then - NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle with the idea of having the champions of the AFL and NFL play a single final game ( the 1963 NFL champions were the Chicago Bears ) but Gillman ' s idea would not bear fruit until the 1966 season , which today is known as the Super Bowl . In consequence , the Chargers to date have not won the Super Bowl and have only reached it once , in 1994 . On the flip side , their AFC West divisional rivals ( the Oakland / Los Angeles Raiders , Denver Broncos , and Kansas City Chiefs ) , once envious of the Chargers ' early success , have each won at least one Super Bowl since then ( ironically , longtime Raiders owner Al Davis served on the coaching staff of the Chargers from 1960 – 62 ) . Furthermore , every time San Diego has hosted the Super Bowl , an AFC West rival has represented the AFC ( the Broncos in Super Bowl XXII and XXXII – the Broncos winning the latter – and the Raiders in XXXVII ) . Other explanations include the uniforms worn by San Diego teams , such as the Chargers ' powder blue jerseys ( despite being well acclaimed ) and the Padres ' mustard yellow jerseys , and Qualcomm Stadium ( the home stadium of the Chargers and , until 2004 , the Padres ) . While others claim the land where Qualcomm stadium is built , was cursed long before its construction by the local Native Americans ( Kumeyaay ) , being the main watershed valley where Europeans made first contact in 1542 . Results of the " curse " . The record for all San Diego Sports teams in championship games as of 2010 stands at one win and seven losses , with appearances in five AFL Championships , two World Series , and one Super Bowl . Besides the 1963 Chargers , the only sports teams in San Diego to have won championships were minor league teams . The original San Diego Sockers team won ten championships in both the original Major Indoor Soccer League and the . The San Diego Gulls won five West Coast Hockey League championships . San Diego has fielded two Little League World Series champions , one in 1961 by Fletcher Hills in El Cajon and another in 2009 by Park View in Chula Vista . Some of the instances of a curse are listed below , including but not limited to playoff and championship games ending in defeat , controversial calls by officials , and players spurning San Diego teams and going on to win championships . San Diego Padres . As of 2011 the Padres are one of only two teams in Major League Baseball to win at least two league championships and never win the World Series ( the other team being the Texas Rangers ) . San Diego Chargers . The Chargers ' overall playoff record , , stands at ten wins and sixteen losses , a . 384 winning percentage . San Diego State Aztecs . BASKETBALL FOOTBALL Untimely player deaths . Several players on San Diego teams have had untimely deaths .