The Sacramento Buffalos were a minor-league football team that competed in the California Football League from 1977 until 1981. They were known as the River City Buffalos in 1977 and also traced their roots back through two earlier semi-pro teams in the state capitol, the Sacramento Statesmen (1973) and the Condors (1974-1976).
Continental Football League (1968-1969) Born: 1968 – CoFL expansion franchise Folded: July 2, 1970 First Game: August 31, 1968 (L 28-13 vs. Orange County Ramblers)
The Sacramento Surge were a minor league football team in the NFL-sponsored World League of American Football for two spring seasons in 1991 and 1992. The Surge won the second and final World Bowl championship of the original WLAF in 1992. After the NFL shuttered the World League in late 1992, team owner Fred Anderson successfully applied to become the first American-based franchise in the Canadian Football League in 1993. Many former Surge players and coaches stuck with Sacramento for the move to the CFL, where the club was known as the Sacramento Gold Miners. Surge players that moved on to greener pastures included defensive end Michael Sinclair who became a Pro Bowl pass rusher for the Seattle Seahawks and defensive tackle Bill Goldberg who achieved superstardom as pro wrestler Goldberg.
The city of Sacramento, California hosted 2nd division professional soccer for five seasons at the end of the 1970’s. It was an era when pro soccer was quite literally the only game in town. The California capital lost pro baseball when the Class AAA Sacramento Solons left town in 1977. The Sacramento Kings and the NBA would not arrive until 1985. The Sacramento Spirits / Gold appeared in three American Soccer League championship games between 1976 and 1980. Oddly, during the two seasons the Sacramentans did not play for the championship, they finished dead last.
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