In 1996, the Central Hockey League (CHL) decided to expand eastward, adding privately owned teams for the first time.
Bill Coffey, one of the founders of the East Coast Hockey League, applied for a franchise in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The Cape Fear region had a population of close to a quarter of a million people and was the home of Fort Bragg, one of the largest military posts in the world.
The new ownership group lacked knowledge of the business of minor league sports, and the travel to places as distant as San Antonio, Texas, became increasingly more expensive.
With the departures of teams in Columbus, Huntsville and Macon, the Force became isolated and it was determined to be financially impossible to continue in the CHL, so they folded.