1977 North American Soccer League season

1976

1977

1978

Teams and Alignment

Conference	Division	Team	Primary Venue	Municipality
Atlantic Conference	Eastern Division	Cosmos	Giants Stadium	East Rutherford, New Jersey
		Ft. Lauderdale Strikers	Lockhart Stadium	Fort Lauderdale, Florida
		Tampa Bay Rowdies	Tampa Stadium	Tampa, Florida
		Washington Diplomats	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium	Washington
	Northern Division	Chicago Sting	Soldier Field (1924)	Chicago
		Connecticut Bicentennials	Yale Bowl, Class of 1954 Field	New Haven, Connecticut
		Rochester Lancers	Holleder Memorial Stadium	Rochester, New York
		St. Louis Stars	Francis Olympic Field	St. Louis County, Missouri
		Toronto Metros-Croatia	Varsity Stadium (1911)	Old Toronto, Toronto
Pacific Conference	Southern Division	Dallas Tornado	Ownby Stadium	University Park, Texas
		Las Vegas Quicksilvers	Sam Boyd Stadium	Whitney, Nevada
		Los Angeles Aztecs	United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	Los Angeles
		San Jose Earthquakes	CEFCU Stadium	San José, California
		Team Hawaii	Aloha Stadium (1975)	Hālawa, Hawaiʻi
	Western Division	Minnesota Kicks	Metropolitan Stadium	Bloomington, Minnesota
		Portland Timbers	Providence Park	Portland, Oregon
		Seattle Sounders	The Kingdome	Seattle
		Vancouver Whitecaps	Empire Stadium	Vancouver, British Columbia

Changes

• Boston Minutemen fold.
• Hartford Bicentennials relocate from Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford, Connecticut to Yale Bowl, Class of 1954 Field in New Haven, Connecticut and renamed Connecticut Bicentennials.
• Los Angeles Aztecs relocate from Featherstone Field in Alondra Park, California to United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.
• Miami Toros relocate from Tamiami Stadium in Westchester, Florida to Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and renamed Ft. Lauderdale Strikers.
• New York Cosmos relocate from Yankee Stadium (1923) in The Bronx, New York to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey and renamed Cosmos.
• Philadelphia Atoms fold.
• San Antonio Thunder relocate from Alamo Stadium in San Antonio to Aloha Stadium (1975) in Hālawa, Hawaiʻi and renamed Team Hawaii.
• San Diego Jaws relocate from Aztec Bowl in San Diego to Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada and renamed Las Vegas Quicksilvers.
• St. Louis Stars realigned from Pacific Conference Western Division to Atlantic Conference Northern Division.
• Washington Diplomats relocate from Pat Cunningham Stadium in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington.

Regular Season Results

Conference	Division	Team	W	L	Pts
Atlantic Conference	Eastern Division	Ft. Lauderdale Strikers	19	7	161
		Cosmos	15	11	140
		Tampa Bay Rowdies	14	12	131
		Washington Diplomats	10	16	92
	Northern Division	Toronto Metros-Croatia	13	13	115
		St. Louis Stars	12	14	104
		Rochester Lancers	11	15	99
		Chicago Sting	10	16	88
		Connecticut Bicentennials	7	19	72
Pacific Conference	Southern Division	Dallas Tornado	18	8	161
		Los Angeles Aztecs	15	11	147
		San Jose Earthquakes	14	12	119
		Team Hawaii	11	15	106
		Las Vegas Quicksilvers	11	15	103
	Western Division	Minnesota Kicks	16	10	137
		Vancouver Whitecaps	14	12	124
		Seattle Sounders	14	12	123
		Portland Timbers	10	16	98

Postseason Results

Team (Single-Game)		Team (Best-of-Two-Plus-Minigame)		Team (Best-of-Two-Plus-Minigame)		Team (Single-Game)		Champions
Ft. Lauderdale Strikers			0	Cosmos	2	Cosmos	2	Cosmos
Cosmos	3	Cosmos	2
Tampa Bay Rowdies	0
Toronto Metros-Croatia			0	Rochester Lancers	0
St. Louis Stars	0 (2)	Rochester Lancers	2
Rochester Lancers	1 (4)
Dallas Tornado			0	Los Angeles Aztecs	0	Seattle Sounders	1
Los Angeles Aztecs	2	Los Angeles Aztecs	2
San Jose Earthquakes	1
Minnesota Kicks			0	Seattle Sounders	2
Vancouver Whitecaps	0	Seattle Sounders	2
Seattle Sounders	2

Markets and Venues

Combined Statistical Area	Metropolitan Statistical Area	Metropolitan Division	County / Equivalent	Municipality	Venue	Team / Event	Regular	Postseason	Total
Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI Combined Statistical Area	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area	Chicago-Naperville-Schaumburg, IL Metropolitan Division	Cook County, Illinois	Chicago	Soldier Field (1924)	Chicago Sting	13		13
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK Combined Statistical Area	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area	Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division	Dallas County, Texas	University Park, Texas	Ownby Stadium	Dallas Tornado	13	One	14
Las Vegas-Henderson, NV Combined Statistical Area	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area		Clark County, Nevada	Whitney, Nevada	Sam Boyd Stadium	Las Vegas Quicksilvers	13		13
Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA Combined Statistical Area	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA Metropolitan Division	Los Angeles County, California	Los Angeles	United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	Los Angeles Aztecs	13	Three	16
Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale, FL Combined Statistical Area	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area	Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Sunrise, FL Metropolitan Division	Broward County, Florida	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	Lockhart Stadium	Ft. Lauderdale Strikers	13	One	14
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI Combined Statistical Area	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area		Hennepin County, Minnesota	Bloomington, Minnesota	Metropolitan Stadium	Minnesota Kicks	13	One	14
New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT Combined Statistical Area	New Haven, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area		South Central Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut	New Haven, Connecticut	Yale Bowl, Class of 1954 Field	Connecticut Bicentennials	13		13
New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area	New York-Jersey City-White Plains, NY-NJ Metropolitan Division	Bergen County, New Jersey	East Rutherford, New Jersey	Giants Stadium	Cosmos	13	Three	16
Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA Combined Statistical Area	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area		Multnomah County, Oregon	Portland, Oregon	Providence Park	Portland Timbers	13		13
						Cosmos		One	One
Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, NY Combined Statistical Area	Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area		Monroe County, New York	Rochester, New York	Holleder Memorial Stadium	Rochester Lancers	13	Two	15
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area		Santa Clara County, California	San José, California	CEFCU Stadium	San Jose Earthquakes	13		13
Seattle-Tacoma, WA Combined Statistical Area	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area	Seattle-Bellevue-Kent, WA Metropolitan Division	King County, Washington	Seattle	The Kingdome	Seattle Sounders	13	Two	15
St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL Combined Statistical Area	St. Louis, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area		St. Louis County, Missouri	Unincorporated	Francis Olympic Field	St. Louis Stars	13	One	14
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area		Tampa, FL Metropolitan Division	Hillsborough County, Florida	Tampa, Florida	Tampa Stadium	Tampa Bay Rowdies	13		13
Toronto Census Metropolitan Area				Old Toronto, Toronto	Varsity Stadium (1911)	Toronto Metros-Croatia	13	One	14
Urban Honolulu, HI Metropolitan Statistical Area			Honolulu County, Hawaiʻi	Hālawa, Hawaiʻi	Aloha Stadium (1975)	Team Hawaii	13		13
Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area				Vancouver, British Columbia	Empire Stadium	Vancouver Whitecaps	13	One	14
Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area	Washington, DC-MD Metropolitan Division	District of Columbia		Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium	Washington Diplomats	13		13
Total							234	17	251