As early as April 25, a lease deal was close to completion,[3] but on May 1, Adams backed out of owning the Tallahassee franchise to instead be a part investor in the Orlando Seals.
[5] One June 13, a story was published that citied the lack of office space for the team as the key bump in the road that was keeping a lease deal from being completed.
[8] On August 10, 2002, the Tallahassee Democrat ran a story stating that the Civic Center's director had grown tired of waiting for Coffey to sign a lease deal, and he had issued a scathing ultimatum saying that the Tide had until Wednesday (Aug. 14) at 5 PM to sign a lease deal.
[9] On August 14, when a lease had not been signed, the ACHL announced the six teams for its inaugural season, and Tallahassee wasn't on the list.
Coffey said that lack of support was not the reason Tallahassee didn't get a team and that the issue was arena availability for practice time and game dates.