Formed as the Sacramento Buccaneers, the team's inclusion in the Pacific Division of the Continental Football League was announced in May 1967.
The players agreed to stay on with a $75-per-game pay cut, but demanded more of a say in team affairs in return.
[2] Former Oakland Raiders player Joe Barbee was hired to coach the team on an interim basis.
The team made the COFL playoffs for the first and only time in 1969, where they lost 31–0 to the Las Vegas Cowboys.
In July 1970, with the future of the COFL in doubt, the Capitols folded after selling less than half of the 3,000 season tickets needed to remain viable.