[3][2][14] The status of the rivalry beyond 2016 remains unclear because the Rowdies have since joined the United Soccer League, while the Strikers ongoing ownership and legal battles of 2016 and 2017 have left them defunct.

[15] As of August 13, 2017 The Florida Derby can trace its roots to June 6, 1975,[3][17] when the upstart Tampa Bay Rowdies first played the Miami Toros in the original North American Soccer League.

The Sun were owned by former Striker, Ronnie Sharp, and the roster featured 14 NASL veterans, eight of whom were ex-Strikers, including Teófilo Cubillas, Curtis Leeper, Colin Fowles, and player–coach Keith Weller.

[43] The rivalry's fourth phase came to be in 1998 when the newly formed Miami Fusion joined the Tampa Bay Mutiny in Major League Soccer.

Several of the derby's players from previous eras, such as Ray Hudson, Thomas Rongen, Perry Van der Beck, Eddie Austin, Farrukh Quarishi, Ivan McKinley and Nick Sakiewicz, ultimately found themselves employed by these MLS clubs.

Hudson, who provided the Fusion's broadcast color commentary and later coached them, was one of the most vocal advocates of the rivalry's continuance during this era.

[50][51] One year later the new NASL became the USSF's sole sanctioned D2 League and Miami FC re-branded themselves as the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

As of the 2016 NASL season the current versions of the Rowdies and Strikers have played twenty-eight times, including two friendlies and once in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup.

[61] That coupled with the filing of a lawsuit by Tampa Bay owner, Bill Edwards, in November 2016 to gain control of the Strikers because of unpaid debts, cast a huge shadow over the short-term future of the rivalry.

[Link] The rivalry began a bizarre chapter in November 2016 when Tampa Bay owner, Bill Edwards, filed a complaint in Pinellas County, Florida against the Strikers' holding company, Miami FC, LLC, over money loaned to the struggling club.

The suit alleged that Edwards entered into a loan agreement with Strikers' ownership in July 2016, by transferring $450,000 to his team's cross-state rivals via his own company, Marketing Solutions Publications.

The new amendment specified that Fort Lauderdale's total debt would not surpass the $240,000 already owed, but according to Edwards’ complaint, he agreed to wire another $80,000 to the Strikers on September 2 because the team lacked sufficient funds to host a match against the New York Cosmos the next day.

[62] In May 2017 Edwards was awarded a summary judgement in the case, and after a June 20 public sale, he gained full control of the copyrights, trademarks and any rights to the use of the name "Fort Lauderdale Strikers" or any variation for $5,100.

[67] Although other Florida teams, including the Jacksonville Teamen, Orlando Lions and Miami Sharks/Freedom among others, have played against several of these clubs from Tampa Bay and Fort Lauderdale, for whatever reason none has ever been able to match their intensity level on a regular basis.

Back in the rivalry's early days, the cheers were led by the "Fannies" in Tampa Bay,[68] while "Striker Likers" filled the stands in Fort Lauderdale.

[69][70][71] Each side regularly made claims about the rudeness of the other's fans, such as being jeered at, pelted with rocks, spit on, doused with sodas or even chased down and attacked whenever visiting one another's domain.

At one point, things quite literally got downright rank: During a match in Tampa in 1981, a couple of rotting fish, decked out (presumably by Rowdies fans) in the Strikers' red, yellow and black, were tossed up on the Ft. Lauderdale goal netting for all to smell.