Over a year ago, it was announced that Syracuse would be having its own indoor soccer team, the Silver Knights. This team joins the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), the second highest level of major indoor soccer league play, which is made up of six other teams, the Baltimore Blast, Norfolk SharX, Rochester Lancers, Milwaukee Wave, Missouri Cornets and Wichita Wings. This league is the highest level of play for indoor soccer, claiming many talented players from Division I schools.

The Silver Knights had been an ongoing project for the last few years. Originally, Syracuse had the indoor soccer team the Salty Dogs, but was unable to keep the team going due to increasingly expensive budgets. The Knights became a reality when the United Soccer League (USL) made an offer, and after months of negotiating, the team was born.

The team is led by head coach and president Tommy Tanner, a former professional soccer player. In his professional soccer career, Tanner had played for the Cleveland Crunch, a team that had been in the MISL. During his first year playing professionally, Tanner was named the MISL rookie player of the year, playing for the team for almost 10 years. In 2003, he became a player and assistant coach for the Syracuse Salty Dogs, and eventually became general manager.

Before becoming president of the Knights, Tanner held the position of the director of coaching for the Syracuse Soccer Academy.