The Crusaders were also overlooked, losing out to golfer Darren Clarke for Comeback of the Year.
Champions League winners Barcelona won the teams category, beating the All Blacks, NBA champions the Dallas Mavericks, FIFA Women's World Cup winners Japan, F1 champions Red Bull and the England cricket team.
The All Blacks also earned nominations in 2006, 2007 and 2011 but have yet to win the team category.
The Crusaders were up for the Comeback of the Year award after February's Christchurch earthquake forced them to play the entire Super 15 season on the road when AMI Stadium suffered serious damage.
The Queensland Reds, who beat the Crusaders in the Super 15 final, were also nominated following the Queensland floods which caused 35 deaths.
That award, however, went to Clarke who won last year's Open Championship, his first major in more than 20 years of playing professional golf and five years after losing his wife to breast cancer.
World No 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic won the Sportsman of the Year award and Kenyan long distance runner Vivian Cheruiyot was named Sportswoman of the Year.
In other awards, golfer Rory McIlroy won Breakthrough of the Year, Oscar Pistorius won Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability and surfer Kelly Slater won Action Sportsperson of the Year.