Despite much lobbying from Rowdies owner, George W. Strawbridge, Jr., the North American Soccer League voted not to sanction an indoor season or tournament in 1977.

Originally Tampa Bay had planned on playing FC Dynamo Moscow, but the match was canceled because of government delays in the Soviet Union.

Although they originally planned to attend the London event, ultimately the tournament was canceled and the Rowdies scheduled an outdoor international friendly in Tampa versus A.S. Roma instead.

[10][11][12] Not only was this brief indoor season the flash-point for one of the longest running professional soccer derbies in North America as previously mentioned, but it was significant for another reason.

When Ed Tepper approached Earl Foreman about starting a fully professional indoor-only soccer league, he used a videotape of the 1977 Rowdies–Zenit Leningrad match[13] to show not only the game's potential, but also the crowd's enthusiastic responses to the end-to-end action.