North American Soccer League (1968)
Tombstone
Born: 1967 – NPSL expansion franchise
Folded: October 1968
First Game: March 31, 1968 (L 2-1 @ Oakland Clippers)
Last Game: September 8, 1968 (W 1-0 vs. Baltimore Bays)
NASL Championships: None
Stadium
Fenway Park (33,700)
Opened: 1912
Marketing
Team Colors: Navy Blue & Gold11968 Boston Beacons Program
Ownership
Owners: Richard O’Connell, Arnold “Red” Auerbach, Stephen Mugar, Sabestino Volpe
Background
The Boston Beacons were a One-Year Wonder that played at Fenway Park during the summer of 1968. The club was owned by a group of prominent Bostonians, including philanthropist Stephen Mugar, Celtics general manager Red Auerbach and Boston Red Sox executive vice president Dick O’Connell.
The Beacons originally formed in 1967 as a franchise in the start-up National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). But the Beacons delayed their entry into the NPSL until 1968. In the meantime, the club hosted a few 1967 NPSL regular season matches at Fenway in 1967 to generate buzz for the new league.
Another pro soccer start-up, the United Soccer Association (USA), also launched in 1967. The USA also had a Boston franchise, the Boston Shamrock Rovers, who played at the Manning Bowl in Lynn, Massachusetts. Boston Bruins owner Weston Adams and his family back the Rovers financially. Unlike the Beacons, the Rovers fielded a team and played a full season in 1967.
Merger with USA & Demise
In December 1967, the USA and NPSL merged to form the North American Soccer League (NASL). The new league now had two Boston franchises. The Rovers fell by the wayside and the Beacons became Boston’s one and only pro soccer franchise when the NASL kicked off in April 1968.
The Beacons lone season in Boston was a flop. The team failed to qualify for the NASL playoffs with a 9-17-6 record. The team was a bust at the box office as well. The Beacons drew just 64,064 for 16 dates at Fenway, for a meager 4,004 average. Beacons ownership announced the club would not return in late October 1968.
Boston Beacons Shop
Editor's Pick
Rock n' Roll Soccer
The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League
by Ian Plenderleith
The North American Soccer League – at its peak in the late 1970s – presented soccer as performance, played by men with a bent for flair, hair and glamour. More than just Pelé and the New York Cosmos, it lured the biggest names of the world game like Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Gerd Müller and George Best to play the sport as it was meant to be played-without inhibition, to please the fans.
The first complete look at the ambitious, star-studded NASL, Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer reveals how this precursor to modern soccer laid the foundations for the sport’s tremendous popularity in America today.
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Downloads
4-21-1968 Beacons Debut at Fenway Park Against Detroit Cougars Press Release
4-21-1968 Boston Beacons Debut at Fenway Park against Detroit Cougars Press Release
6-21-1968 Boston Beacons vs. Chicago Mustangs Roster
Links
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