In the NASL season, the Rowdies finished with 131 points and a record of 14–12, which placed them third in the Eastern Division of the Atlantic Conference.

For the third consecutive season South African striker, Derek Smethurst lead the club in scoring with 19 goals.

[1] Eddie Firmani began the season as head coach, but abruptly resigned on June 3, a few days after a 4–2 victory over the Cosmos.

[2] Team captain, Len Glover, who had been sidelined with an injury at the time, served as interim coach for one match, a loss to Rochester on June 5.

[5] For his part, Firmani re-immerged as the Cosmos coach (just as several of his former players had predicted in early June),[2][6] and ultimately eliminated Tampa Bay, 3–0, in the first round of the 1977 playoffs.

In the opening match the Rowdies and Metros-Croatia played to a scoreless draw, before Tampa Bay won using the NASL’s new shoot-out tiebreaker, 2–1.

[11] The Rowdies also played a postseason friendly versus the Dallas Tornado in Tulsa, Oklahoma five days after the match against China.

Team Hawaii owner and potato chip magnate, Ward Lay soon moved his club, redubbing them the Tulsa Roughnecks.