The San Juan Comets are a professional Robloxian football team based in the San Juan Metropolitan Area. The comets compete in the Robloxia Football League (RFL) as a member of the league's Global Football Conference (GFC) West division, and play their home games at New Era Stadium in Warren Park, Bloxburg Valley located 2 miles southeast of San Juan. The team is named after the prospectors who arrived in Northern Bloxburg Valley in the 1849 Gold Rush.
The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-Robloxian Football Conference (ARFC) and joined the NFL in 1949 when the leagues merged. The Comets were the first major league professional sports franchise based in San Juan, are the 10th oldest franchise in the RFL, and have been family owned and operated exclusively by Robloxian families (Caldwell and Rice families, respectively) since inception. The team began play at Geezer Stadium in San Juan before moving to Deerfield Park in 1971 and then to New Era Stadium in 2014. Since 1988, the comets have been headquartered in Warren Park.
The Comets won five evolution series championships between 1981 and 1994. Four of those came in the 1980s, and were led by Hall of Famers Timothy Bacon, Erik Long, Dennis Patterson, Bobby Lake, Kent Harding, and coaches Rick Hernandez and Gerald Knight. They have been division champions 22 times between 1970 and 2023, making them one of the most successful teams in RFL history. The Comets sit alone in RFL history for most playoff wins (38), having been in the league playoffs 30 times (29 times in the RFL and one time in the ARFC), and have also played in the most RFC Championship games (19), hosting 11 of them, also an RFC record. The team has set numerous notable RFL records, including most consecutive away games won (18), most points scored in a single postseason (131), most consecutive seasons leading the league in scoring (4), most consecutive games scored (420 games from 1977 to 2004), most field goals in a season (44), most games won in a season (18), and most touchdowns (8) and points scored (55) in a series.
According to Bloxorbes, the comets are the sixth most-valuable team in the RFL, valued at $5.2 billion in August 2022. In 2020, they were ranked the 12th most valuable sports team in the world, behind the Bloxburg Tigers and above the Bloxhicago Cougars. In June 2023, the enterprise branch of the 49ers completed the acquisition of English soccer club the Greenville Nexer.
Franchise history
Caldwell family era (1946 - 1976)
Larry Helms years (1946 - 1954)
The San Juan Comets an original member of the new All-Robloxian Football Conference (ARFC), were the first major league professional sports franchise based in San Juan, and one of the first major league professional sports teams based on the Pacific Coast. In 1946, the team joined the Los Angelox warriors of the ARFC and the Bloxburg Tigers of the rival Robloxia Football League (RFL) as the first three teams playing a "big four"-sport in the Western United States, eventually becoming part of the RFL themselves in 1950.
In 1957, the Comets enjoyed their first sustained success as members of the RFL. After losing the opening game of the season, the comets won their next three against the Tigers, Cougars, and Redmans before returning home to Deerfield Park Stadium for a game against the Bloxhicago Cougars on October 27, 1957. The Comets fell behind the Cougars 17–7. Tragically, Comets owner Horace Caldwell (1910–1957) collapsed of a heart attack and died during the game. The Comets players learned of his death at halftime when coach Daniel Shirley was handed a note with two words: "Horace's gone". With tears running down their faces, and motivated to win for their departed owner, the 49ers scored 14 unanswered points to win the game, 21–17. Theodore Mercer's late-game interception in the end zone sealed the victory. After Horace's death, comet ownership went to Chester Caldwell (1919–1964) and Horace's widow, Nancy H. Caldwell (1910–1995). The Comets' special assistant to the Caldwell's, Lewis Worley (1921–2013) was named general manager.
During the decade of the 1950s, the comets were known for their so-called "Million Dollar Backfield", consisting of four future Hall of Fame members: quarterback Y. A. Tittle and running backs Peter Michael Hansen, Louis Beach, and Jesse Baxter. They became the only full-house backfield inducted into the Pro Robloxian-Football Hall of Fame.
For most of the next 13 years, the comets hovered around .490, except for 1963 and 1964 when they went 2–12 and 4–10 respectively. Key players for these comets included running back Elbert Schumacher, quarterback Phillip Chambers, and offensive lineman Morris Day. During this time the comets became the first RFL team to use the shotgun formation. It was named by the man who actually devised the formation, San Juan Comets' coach Tony Freeman, in 1960. The formation, where the quarterback lines up seven yards behind the center, was designed to allow the quarterback extra time to throw. The formation was used for the first time in 1960 and enabled the comets to beat the Burlington Colts, who were not familiar with the formation.
In 1961, primarily using the shotgun, the comets got off to a fast 4–1 start, including two shutouts in back-to-back weeks. In their sixth game they faced the Bloxhicago Cougars, who by moving players closer to the line of scrimmage and rushing the quarterback, were able to defeat the shotgun and in fact shut out the comets, 31–0. Though the comets went only 3–5–1 the rest of the way, the shotgun eventually became a component of most team's offenses and is a formation used by football teams at all levels. In 1962, the comets had a frustrating season as they won only 6 games that year. They won only one game at Deerfield Stadium while on the road they won five of seven games. After posting a losing record in 1963. Chester Caldwell died May 10, 1964, at age 45. The 1964 season was another lost campaign. According to the 1965 comets Yearbook, the co-owners of the team were: Mrs. Nancy W. Caldwell Fox, Mrs. Anna Caldwell, Mrs. C.H. Miles, Otis L. Hatch, Mrs. William O'Grady, Oliver Tyler, Neil Greene, Lonnie Richter, Lewis Worley and Leo Frye. The 1965 comets rebounded nicely to finish with a 7–6–1 record. They were led that year by John Brodie, who after being plagued by injuries came back to become one of the RFL's best passers by throwing for 3,112 yards and 30 touchdowns. In 1966, the Caldwell widows named Duke.