Year founded 1991 Franchise W-L-T record Regular Season: 11–9 Head coach Mike Riley | Year retired 1992 Founded 1991 | |
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City San Antonio, Texas, U.S. Team colors Brown, Metallic Gold, Burnt Orange, White, Scarlet, Blue, Vegas Gold | ||
The San Antonio Riders were a professional American football team that played in the WLAF in 1991 and 1992. The team played at Alamo Stadium 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) in San Marcos, Texas, 45 miles northeast of San Antonio, for the 1992 season after the San Antonio Independent School District refused to allow the sale of beer at WLAF games or display 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 (owner of the New Orleans Saints of the NFL). The general managers were Tom Landry (Pro Football Hall of Fame 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 (WWE), Jason Garrett who not only went on to play for and serve as current head coach for the Dallas Cowboys, and head coach Mike Riley, who went on to coach the San Diego Chargers of the NFL and is currently the head coach at the University of Nebraska.
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 to have the Riders join that league instead for the 1993 season. The CFL accepted, and admitted the Riders and the Sacramento Surge/Gold Miners to the CFL. The Riders were to change names to the San Antonio Texans (there was already a Rough Riders 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 name would later be used for the aforementioned Gold Miners when they moved to San Antonio in 1995.)