Their regular season was highlighted by a sweep of both matches against the New York Cosmos and a perfect 6–0 record in games requiring overtime or a shootout.

After game one on September 2, it looked as if New York would have no trouble at all with their long-time rivals, as they hammered the home side, 6–3, in front of 29,224 disappointed fans at Tampa Stadium.

Although Tampa Bay barely qualified for the playoffs and had never previously won a game at Giants Stadium, they nevertheless beat the odds on September 5.

[7] The Rowdies won game two, 3–2, by virtue of a 4–2 shootout as 38,691 looked on, thus forcing the Cosmos into playing a winner-take-all match a few days later.

[8] In the semifinals the Cosmos faced their Soccer Bowl '80 adversary, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, with the opening match at Lockhart Stadium.

[10] 1981 NASL Champions: Chicago Sting Soccer Bowl MVP: Frantz Mathieu (Chicago) Assistant referees: Robert Donohue Derek Davis Television: ABC (tape delayed broadcast) Announcers: Verne Lundquist, Paul Gardner[12] *From 1977 through 1984 the NASL had a variation of the penalty shoot-out procedure for tied matches.

Even though this particular match was a goalless draw after extra time, NASL procedure also called for the box score to show an additional "goal" given to the winning side of a shoot-out.