National Professional Soccer League (1998-1999)
Tombstone
Born: May 19, 1998 – NPSL expansion franchise
Folded: Postseason 1999 – The Thundercats cease operations
First Game: October 25, 1998 (L 14-10 @ Montreal Impact)
Last Game: April 3, 1999 (L 21-12 @ Cleveland Crunch)
NPSL Championships: None
Arena
National Car Rental Center (19,200)
Opened: 1998
Marketing
Team Colors: Blue, Black & Silver
Ownership
Owner: Milan Mandaric
Attendance
Background
The Florida Thundercats were an indoor soccer team in Sunrise, Florida that resides on our One-Year Wonders file. The Thundercats failed despite a deeply experienced management team of pro soccer investors and operators.
Financial backer Milan Mandaric owned soccer clubs in both the United States and Europe dating back to the 1970’s. He also had previous experience in the indoor game as a club owner in the defunct Major Indoor Soccer League and the Continental Indoor Soccer League. Mandaric paid a reported $400,000 expansion fee to the NPSL for the rights to the Florida franchise in May 1998 (Sports Business Journal, 10/26/1998)
General Manager Dick Berg was an experienced promoter in the NFL and the NBA. Berg previously managed Mandaric’s outdoor clubs in the North American Soccer League during the 1970’s, the San Jose Earthquakes and the Oakland Stompers.
Head Coach Fernando Clavijo was a long-time indoor star of the 1980’s and played in the 1994 World Cup for the United States. In 1997, Clavijo coached the Seattle Seadogs to the championship of the Continental Indoor Soccer League.
One & Done
The Thundercats played in the brand new National Car Rental Center in the suburbs of Fort Lauderdale. They shared the 19,000-seat building with the NHL’s Florida Panthers and sold seats only in the 8,500-seat lower bowl. The arena opened with a Celine Dion concert in October 1998 and the Thundercats followed just over a month later with their home opener, an 11-5 win over the Kansas City Attack before 6,217 fans on November 13, 1998.
Attendance plummeted quickly from there. For the season, the Thundercats averaged fewer than 2,500 fans announced for a 20-game home slate. Coach Fernando Clavijo told GoalIndoor Magazine in 2006 that Mandaric soon recognized he had been sold a bill of goods by the NPSL and Clavijo himself advised the owner to shut the team down. Midway through the 1998-99 season, the Thundercats held a fire sale of the team’s best (and most expensive) players. The club finished out the season with journeymen players earning $50 a game.
The Thundercats disbanded at the end of the 1998-99 season. For Mandaric, it was his third and apparently final strike with indoor soccer. At the time of this writing in 2013, Mandaric is Chairman of Sheffield Wednesday football club in England.
Links
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One Response
The Thundercats also let local TV sportscaster Frank Forte play in goal for one quarter of a late-season game.
He gave up three goals on four shots in 15 minutes for a PAA of 24.00.