Teams that decide to start tanking often do so by trading away star players in order to reduce payroll and bring in younger prospects.
[6][7] In the 1983–84 NHL season, the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils admitted they wanted to lose in order to get the number one pick in the draft and select Mario Lemieux.
[8] Tanking did not become prevalent until the 2010s, when teams in all four major American leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL) were engaged in various forms of the practice.
[9] Other teams like the Miami Marlins, Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, and Detroit Tigers have sought to emulate the strategy by trading away their best players, with the twin goals of drafting and developing younger stars and cutting costs in order to become competitive again several years later.
[citation needed] The Miami Dolphins were accused of tanking during the 2019 NFL season when new head coach Brian Flores oversaw a similar liquidation of the team's established talent.
[20] In September, tackle Laremy Tunsil and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick were sent to contending football teams in exchange for future draft picks; both would subsequently be named to the Pro Bowl.
The victories denied Miami the first overall pick of the 2020 NFL draft, although the team was able to select Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, whom they were rumored to have been deliberately losing games for.
[22][23] The next season, the 2020 Dolphins went 10–6 and missed the playoffs by one game, while the trade of Tunsil allowed them to obtain the third overall pick of the 2021 NFL draft, due to the Texans' bad record.
[25] Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson faced allegations of deliberately losing the final game of the 2020 NFL season after he replaced starting quarterback Jalen Hurts with backup Nate Sudfeld.
[32] In addition, this tanking campaign was believed to be designed in order to discourage fan attendance in Oakland for Fisher to use as justification to MLB for moving the team to Las Vegas.
Head coach Jason Kidd admitted after the game that the decision to rest players was made by team owner Mark Cuban and general manager Nico Harrison.
[41] The campaign was widely criticized by sports writers, who noted that it is not in the nature of professional athletes to intentionally lose games and that poor performance should bring punishment, not encouragement.
[42][43] The campaign was denounced by Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino when fans of his former team, the Miami Dolphins, began participating in it[44] and Luck himself, who called it "stupid".
[48] Since acquiring the first overall selection requires having the worst overall record, fans have responded negatively to teams lowering their draft position by winning games.
After the Philadelphia Eagles lost their first 11 games in 1968, fans anticipated them obtaining USC running back O. J. Simpson first overall in the upcoming draft.
[50] A similar situation occurred during the 2020 NFL season when New York Jets fans were angered by the team winning their first game in Week 15.
[57][58] Similarly, multiple fanbases encouraged their teams to tank during the 2022-23 NHL season in the hopes that they would be the ones to draft Connor Bedard, who was considered the greatest prospect in hockey since Sidney Crosby.
The 2018 NBA draft featured several highly sought-after prospects, including eventual top picks Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III, Luka Dončić, and Trae Young.
[62] Mark Cuban was fined $750,000 during the 2022-2023 NBA Season when the Mavericks sat out starters during a key game for a chance to qualify for the play-in tournament.
In fact, Mayfield was not a part of the 2023 Browns team that went a solid 11-6 and made the playoffs, as he was traded for a conditional fifth-round pick after the 2021 season.
During the following year's NFL draft, the Chiefs, who were picking at the back end of the first round due to their 2016 success, traded up with the Buffalo Bills to select quarterback Patrick Mahomes tenth overall.
[66] Mahomes, who was not regarded as a surefire quarterback prospect at the time he was drafted,[67][66][68] became a main contributor to the Chiefs' dynasty in the 2020s, as he has led the team to six consecutive division titles, six consecutive AFC Championship appearances, four Super Bowl appearances, and three Super Bowl championships since he became Kansas City's starting quarterback in 2018.
For example, the NBA sees this as a potentially major issue, since one of the largest drivers of revenue generation for professional leagues is gate receipts.
[60] The NBA, NHL, and MLB have responded to the phenomenon in recent years by changing their draft from reverse-order to a lottery formula which is only loosely tied to the previous season's standings,[2] though this has not stopped the practice entirely.