The San Antonio Riders were a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team that played in the WLAF in 1991 and 1992. The team played at

Alamo Stadium Alamo Stadium is a horseshoe-shaped football and soccer stadium in the Monte Vista Historic District of San Antonio, Texas. Nicknamed "The Rock Pile" due to its primarily limestone construction it was completed in September 1940 as a Works P ...

in San Antonio in 1991 and then were forced to move to Bobcat Stadium on the campus of Southwest Texas State University (now

Texas State University Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

) in

San Marcos, Texas San Marcos ( ) is a city and the county seat of Hays County, Texas, United States. The city's limits extend into Caldwell and Guadalupe Counties, as well. San Marcos is within the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area and on the Interstate 35 ...

, northeast of San Antonio, for the 1992 season after the

San Antonio Independent School District San Antonio Independent School District is a school district based in San Antonio, Texas, United States. San Antonio ISD ranks is the 13th largest of Texas' 1,057 school districts. The District encompasses 79 square miles with a total population ...

refused to allow the sale of beer at WLAF games or the display of beer advertising at Alamo Stadium. In return, Riders ownership scrapped plans to fund $235,000 in renovations to the Stadium. In June 1991, SAISD officials announced plans for a rent increase on the Riders for the 1992 season. The relationship would last for only one season. The team was owned by Larry Benson, the brother of

Tom Benson Thomas Milton Benson (July 12, 1927 – March 15, 2018) was an American businessman, philanthropist and sports franchise owner. He was the owner of several automobile dealerships before buying the New Orleans Saints of the National Football Leagu ...

(owner of the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

of the NFL). The

general managers A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

were

Tom Landry Thomas Wade Landry (September 11, 1924 – February 12, 2000) was an American professional football player and coach. He was the first head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL), a position he held for 29 seasons. Dur ...

(

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

coach) and Tom Landry, Jr. The head coach for both seasons was Mike Riley. The team's record in 1991 was 4-6. San Antonio turned things around in 1992 with a mark of 7-3. The Riders were not able to compete in the highly competitive North American West Division during the 1992 season, and like the Frankfurt Galaxy of 1991, they did not make the playoffs despite a 7-3 record. Former players include professional wrestler John "Bradshaw" Layfield, better known as JBL of

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

(WWE),

Jason Garrett Jason Calvin Garrett (born March 28, 1966) is a former American football player and coach and current broadcaster. He previously served as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for the 2010s from 2010-2019. Garrett has also been offensive coordi ...

who went on to play for and later serve as head coach for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

, and head coach Mike Riley, who went on to coach the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

of the NFL. After the 1992 season saw the suspension of the WLAF (and ultimately the abandonment of North American teams), Benson applied to the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

to have the Riders join that league instead for the 1993 season. The CFL accepted, and admitted the Riders and the

Sacramento Surge The Sacramento Surge was a professional American football team that played in the World League of American Football (WLAF) in 1991 and 1992. The team played its first season at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, and the second season in Hornet Stad ...

/ Gold Miners to the CFL. The Riders were to change names to the ''San Antonio Texans'' (there was already a

Rough Riders The Rough Riders was a nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish–American War and the only one to see combat. The United States Army was small, understaffed, and di ...

and a Roughriders, both of whom were known as the "Riders" for short), but the team folded abruptly prior to the 1993 season. The

San Antonio Texans The San Antonio Texans were a Canadian Football League (CFL) team that played in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1995 CFL season. They had relocated from Sacramento, California, where the team had been called the Sacramento Gold Miners ...

name would later be used for the aforementioned Gold Miners when they moved to San Antonio in 1995.

Season-by-season

1991 season

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Schedule

1992 season

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Results

:Week 1: San Antonio 17, Montreal Machine 16 :Week 2:

Birmingham Fire The Birmingham Fire were a professional American football team based in Birmingham, Alabama. They were a member of the North American West division of the World League of American Football (WLAF) and played their home games at Legion Field. The cl ...

17, San Antonio 10 :Week 3: San Antonio 9, New York/New Jersey Knights 3 :Week 4: San Antonio 23, Sacramento Surge 20 (OT) :Week 5: San Antonio 17, Ohio Glory 0 :Week 6: San Antonio 17, Birmingham Fire 14 :Week 7: Orlando Thunder 39, San Antonio 21 :Week 8: San Antonio 17, Barcelona Dragons 0 :Week 9: San Antonio 43, Frankfurt Galaxy 14 :Week 10: Sacramento Surge 27, San Antonio 21

References

{{Canadian Football League American football teams established in 1991 Sports clubs disestablished in 1992 1991 establishments in Texas 1992 disestablishments in Texas NFL Europe (WLAF) teams Defunct American football teams in Texas Sports teams in San Antonio Defunct Canadian Football League teams Defunct Canadian football teams in the United States