Buffalo (NFL)

Buffalo, New York had a turbulent, early-era National Football League team that operated under three different names and several different owners between the 1910s and 1920s. The early NFL era franchise was variously called the Buffalo All-Stars from 1915 to 1917,Buffalo Niagaras in 1918, the Buffalo Prospects in 1919,Buffalo All-Americans from 1920–1923, Buffalo Bisons from 1924–1925, 1927 and 1929, and the Buffalo Rangers in 1926. The franchise, experiencing financial problems in 1928, did not participate in league play that season.

History

Prior to the NFL

Buffalo operated an early professional football circuit from at least the late 1800s onward. Among notable predecessors to the team discussed here were the Buffalo Oakdales, whose heyday was in the years 1908 and 1909 and who ceased operations c. 1915; the Cazenovias, who were New York's best team in 1910 and 1911; and the Lancaster Malleables, from the neighboring town of Lancaster, New York, who were the best team in the region in 1913 and 1914. These teams played each other and teams from nearby cities (for example, the Rochester Jeffersons).