In a departure from previous years, it was a best-of-three series between the Chicago Sting and the Toronto Blizzard as opposed to a single-game championship.

The first game of the series was held on Monday, October 1 at Comiskey Park, in Chicago, Illinois; the Sting won it, 2–1.

The Toronto Blizzard qualified for the playoffs as runners-up in the Eastern Division and faced the San Diego Sockers in the other semi-final series.

Sportsvision televised the series in the Chicago area; this coverage was simulcast on the then-new TSN (which had started up a month earlier) cable channel in Canada.

He then followed that up by taking verbal jabs at both Willy Roy and Karl-Heinz Granitza to reporters, by referring to them as "cheats" and the Sting as "unworthy champions"[16] among other things.