Officially announced a press conference on September 30, 1996, the Blast signed its first player that November in goalkeeper standout from Yugoslavia and of MLS Mile Milovac and signed its second star player in Marc LeBere who came over on transfer from the Philadelphia Freedom after scoring 13 goals for Philadelphia, LeBere was a premier striker and expected to lead this new franchise in scoring.

The club played its first match at Kuntz Stadium on April 25, 1997, a 2–0 loss to eventual A-League champion Milwaukee Rampage in front of 2,886 fans.

By August, the team's original owner, businessman Ferid Poturkovic, had sold the club to MorSports, Inc. On the day the sale was announced, the Blast beat the Chicago Stingers 2–0 to clinch a playoff berth with their fifth consecutive victory to end the regular season.

The 1998 season was the best in the club's history, as the Blast went 15–3 in league play (17–4 overall) and won the North Central Division's regular-season championship.

In its first A-League game, the Blast won away to Tennessee Rhythm 3–1, but finished a mere point out of the playoff race with a 13–15 record, having lost the final postseason spot to the El Paso Patriots by virtue of a tiebreaker.

Former French professional and Mauritanian international Eric Descombes took over as player-coach for the 2002 season, which saw the team go 6–18–4, including a stretch of 16 games over two months in which it won just one match.

A highlight was a 2–2 draw against the Rochester Raging Rhinos in a nationally televised game on August 17 that drew a then-club-record 4,557 fans (a figure that would be topped on July 13, 2003 when 5,140 saw a 3–2 loss to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds).