Indianapolis Twisters

The Indiana (née Indianapolis) Twisters were a professional indoor soccer team that played in the Continental Indoor Soccer League in 1996 and 1997.

Announced as a CISL expansion team on February 22, 1996, the team received its nickname after a "Name the Team" contest that drew more than 250 entries. The name "Tornados" was the winning entry, but team owners Executive Sports Management, Inc. altered that a bit to capitalize on the release that summer of the motion picture Twister. The Indianapolis Twisters made their debut in an 8–2 loss to the Detroit Neon in Auburn Hills, Michigan on June 14, 1996.

While the Twisters suffered several hard-luck losses through their first half of their inaugural season, things were really tumultuous behind the scenes. After a home-opener crowd of 5,109 on June 21 against the Washington Warthogs (a 7–6 overtime loss), the crowds at Market Square Arena dwindled to 2,563 by a July 27 game against the Portland Pride and 2,125 who witnessed a 12–10 loss to the Anaheim Splash on August 14.

By that point, the league had already made efforts to intercede and take over the franchise. On August 7, 1996, league commissioner Ron Weinstein and Roy Turner, a former indoor soccer general manager working with the league, met with Twisters' ownership to outline what the Indianapolis Star described as "the league's intent to control the franchise until new ownership is found."

The league wound up operating the team for its final six games as David and Rodney Goins, brothers who had headed up the ownership group, suspended operations on September 1, 1996 following an 8–5 win over the Houston Hotshots attended by an announced 2,856 fans. The team went 2–4 as "wards of the league", and was not eliminated from the playoff hunt until a 7–4 loss to Monterrey La Raza on September 20, 1996 in front of a club-record crowd of 9,315 (many enticed by $5 general-admission tickets).

On September 27, 1996, Indianapolis trucking company owners Dan and Carl Cook became the team's new owners and announced plans to change its name to the Indiana Twisters for its second season in the league. Two days later, the Twisters finished their first season with an 8–7 win in Monterrey to finish with a 10–18 record.

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