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The Jacksonville Tea Men were a soccer team based in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Overall, the Tea Men played a total of four years in Jacksonville, first in the major league-level North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1980–1982, then in the lower level American Soccer League in 1983 and United Soccer League in 1984. The NASL ...
- Background
- Move to Jacksonville
- Into The Lower Divisions
- Voices
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The Jacksonville Tea Men was a pro soccer outfit that played both outdoor and indoor soccer in north Florida during the early 1980’s. The franchise originated in New England in 1978 as an expansion team in the North American Soccer League, which was the top flight league in America at the time. In the Tea Men’s final years in Jacksonville, the club...
Jacksonville interests lured the Tea Men south in November 1980 with a pledge of 14,000 season tickets for the 1981 outdoor season, but the promise never materialized. The Associated Press reported that the Tea Men sold fewer than 4,500 season ticketsafter arriving in Florida. By the end of 1981, Lipton’s patience with the NASL was nearly exhausted...
In early 1983, local businessman Ingo Krieg rescued the Tea Men yet again and entered them in the lower level American Soccer League. The nonsensical Tea Men name endured, despite the fact that Lipton had finally pulled out entirely. The ASL had a long and rather weird history dating back to the Great Depression. Similar to the NASL, the ASL had go...
“One of the reasons for the demise of the indoor league was the refusal of NASL League officials to consider more indoor games and to allow full field dasher board advertising. The additional revenue and tha full year contracts for players could have taken us out of the red within two years…..No vision for the indoor-outdoor mix at that time.” – Di...
April 10, 1982 Jacksonville Tea Men vs. New York Cosmos Game Notes August 25, 1983 – Zivaljevic Spurs Jacksonville To Title ASL Press Release 6-1-1984 Tea Men vs. Houston Dynamos Roster 2011 FWiLInterview with former Tea Men owner Ingo Krieg
The Jacksonville Tea Men, Northeast Florida’s first-ever major league-level sports team, played in the original North American Soccer League in front of crowds of 15-20,000 at the Gator Bowl from 1980-82.
Sep 27, 2022 · It seems a good time to look back at the Tea Men, particularly as the World Cup gets ready to start Nov. 20 (the first U.S. match, against Wales, is the following day). Next cup: U.S., Mexico...
Mar 15, 2011 · The Tea Men gave up on New England in November, 1980 and relocated to Jacksonville, Florida. Still owned by Lipton, the franchise retained the Boston Tea Party-inspired name, although it made little sense in Florida, which remained a Spanish territory until 1821.
Old School Shirts has vintage apparel for the Jacksonville Tea Men, a soccer team that played four seasons in Jacksonville.
Sep 12, 1981 · jacksonville, fla. -- The North American Soccer League' Jacksonville Tea Men won a reprieve Friday when their owners, the Lipton Tea Co., agreed to give the city of Jacksonville six months to...
