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).
The Sacramento Spirits were a pro soccer club formed in 1976 as part of a westward expansion of the 2nd Division American Soccer League (ASL). The Spirits played in the 1977 ASL championship game, losing to the New Jersey Americans. In 1978, the Spirits folded in midseason and were immediately replaced by a new ASL franchise, the Sacramento Gold, that finished out the 1978 schedule.
The Sacramento Gold Miners were the first U.S.-based franchise admitted into the Canadian Football League during the CFL’s short-lived American expansion adventure from 1993 to 1995. The Gold Miners weren’t a brand new operation though. Owner Fred Anderson’s team previously played in the NFL-sponsored World League of American Football (WLAF) as the Sacramento Surge in 1991 and 1992. After NFL owners pulled the plug on the WLAF in September 1992, Anderson applied for entry to the CFL. The team retained its color scheme, Head Coach Kay Stephenson and a number of players from the WLAF era, but changed its name upon joining the CFL.
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 Sacramento Mountain Lions were a minor league football outfit that played parts of three seasons from 2010 to 2012. The Lions were part of the United Football League, a spectacularly ill-conceived venture that reportedly burned through over $100 million in its first two seasons while staging just 32 games. Former Minnesota Vikings boss Dennis Green coached the Lions in 2010 and 2011 and brought along former Vikings Pro Bowl quarterback Daunte Culpepper for the 2010 campaign.
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