the team, a charter member of the eastern indoor soccer league, was founded as the daytona beach speedkings. they played their home games at the ocean center in daytona beach, florida, under the direction of coach scott cooper. the team played the first-ever game in eisl history, losing to the savannah rug ratz in front of a "disappointing" crowd of 600 fans. despite having a winning record (5–3) and the league's top offense, the team failed to draw fans and suffered financially. before the season, team owner blake cullen told the "orlando sentinel" that the team would need to average about 3,000 fans per game to break even. the team's official home attendance average was 609 per game but the bulk of those were complimentary tickets with the speedkings selling fewer than 200 tickets per game.