Sacramento Falls in Love with the CFL

That was the headline in my hometown’s newspaper, the Hamilton Spectator, after the CFL’s debut in Sacramento, California. I became a CFL fan in the early 1990s. It was a tumultuous time for the Canadian Football League. Some teams across the country were on the verge of collapse. Several others were struggling to stay afloat. Against this backdrop, the CFL opted to add teams in the United States. The benefits of U.S. expansion were two-fold. First, expansion fees could bring in some much-needed cash in the short term. Second, a bigger North American wide football league could open up even greater revenue (i.e., an American TV deal) long term.

The first American team to join the CFL was the Sacramento Gold Miners in 1993. There was also supposed to be a team in San Antonio, Texas, as well, but it was kiboshed before playing a single down. So, the 1993 CFL season featured nine teams with the addition of the California capital.

The Gold Miners were spearheaded by Fred Anderson, a Sacramento businessman, who had owned the Sacramento Surge of the World League of American Football, a developmental spring league for the National Football League. The WLAF ceased operations in 1992. There was considerable overlap between the Surge and the Gold Miners. The teams’ colours were similar, and many former Surge players and personnel were brought into the Gold Miners’ organization. Kay Stephenson reprised his role as Sacramento’s head coach, having coached the Surge to the 1992 WLAF championship.

Because of U.S. labour laws, the Gold Miners were not required to have any Canadian players on their roster. Instead, they played with an all-American lineup. Some suggested this gave Sacramento a unique advantage over their Canadian counterparts. Yet, the team did struggle as an expansion team while adapting to the Canadian game.

The Gold Miners played their home games at Hornet Field on the campus of Sacramento State university. It was a rather bare bones stadium comprising temporary bleachers and portable washrooms. Nevertheless, the stage was set for a historic debut of Canadian football in northern California.

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July 17, 1993

The Sacramento Gold Miners opened the 1993 season with a two-game road trip, losing both games in Ottawa and Hamilton. Their first home game was played on Saturday July 17th against the Calgary Stampeders, the defending Grey Cup champions, led by marquee quarterback Doug Flutie.

A crowd of 20,082 filed into Hornet Field that night to see a great offensive display of football. Flutie and Sacramento quarterback David Archer lit up the scoreboard in what was truly a wild west shootout. You couldn’t have asked for a more exciting game to introduce Sacramento fans to the CFL.  Ultimately, the Stampeders came out on top 38-36. The Gold Miners dropped to 0-3.

Sacramento finished their inaugural season with a 6-12 record, last place in the West Division. They were somewhat better the following year but still missed the playoffs in a competitive West division. Unfortunately, the Gold Miners would leave Sacramento following the 1994 season. After failing to secure a new stadium or upgrades to Hornet Field, Fred Anderson relocated the Gold Miners to the then-still-new Alamodome in San Antonio in 1995 where they became known as the Texans. In 1996, the CFL ended its American expansion experiment and returned to being an all-Canadian league.

I reached out to award-winning journalist Bob Graswich, who was a columnist for the Sacramento Bee during the Gold Miners’ CFL run. His column praising the Canadian game resonated with me because it was exactly how I felt (and still do!) about the CFL when compared to the big bad NFL. Reading that sentiment from an American writer helps validate my position.

Graswich told me the CFL was a “breath of fresh air” for Sacramento. “It was an exciting game, designed for the fans.” An antithesis of the NFL. He speaks very highly of Fred Anderson, saying he was somebody that was difficult not to like. Fred was a Sacramentan through and through, and he reluctantly moved the team only after he ran out of options. Graswich, who visited Anderson before his death, said Fred was truly disappointed that he couldn’t make the CFL work in Sacramento.

Fred Anderson was no doubt the most committed of the U.S. team owners. Perhaps under different circumstances and in a different time, things could’ve worked out better. Ironically, years later Sacramento State upgraded Hornet Field and renamed the field in Anderson’s honour – a fitting legacy for a man who did so much for football in Sacramento.

Perhaps it was the novelty factor. Perhaps it was the name and logo, which I really liked. Whatever the reason, I purchased a Sacramento Gold Miners t-shirt. It was one of my favourites, and I still have it. Well, my daughter actually took it and still wears it to school. How’s that for vintage CFL USA cool?

It didn’t last long. But football fans in Sacramento enjoyed it while they had it. For a brief period over thirty years ago, Sacramento indeed fell in love with the CFL.

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I remember watching this game on television. My family had just returned from a summer road trip to northern Ontario and Ottawa. We made it home just in the nick of time to catch the game on CBC. I really felt like I was watching the beginning of something big. Seeing Americans embrace Canadian football seemed so satisfying to me at the time. It still does, really.

Back home in Calgary, Tom Elder was also watching this game with excitement. Tom has an extensive library of old CFL games on his Calgary Stampeders Classics YouTube channel . You can watch the historic Calgary-Sacramento game below. Please consider contributing to Tom’s project if you can. It takes a considerable amount of time, resources, and effort to help preserve some of these great CFL memories.