To begin telling the story of professional soccer in Hawaii we first have to make a quick stop in San Antonio, Texas. In 1974 the NASL announced it's 17th franchise, the San Antonio Thunder. The new Texan club was owned by Ward Lay, son the of the founder of Frito-Lay, played in the Central Division alongside state-rival Dallas Tornado, and hosted it's games in the Alamo Stadium.
Despite a lot of initial excitement the franchise folded in just 2 seasons. Even though the Thunder was able to add World Cup level players to the roster, they finished last and second to last in their division and were only able to draw about an average attendance of around 4-5 thousand fans.
In 1977, with the political will of the governor of Hawaii and the mayor of Honolulu, the franchise was relocated to pacific islands and was uncreatively named Team Hawaii. Unfortunately the adventure only lasted that single season due to a number of issues, some of which seem could've easily been foreseen.
Firstly, and obviously, the distance between Honolulu and mainland USA is enormous. This meant that opponents needed to plan their schedule around the away game in Hawaii, often combining it with other away matches in the west coast. Team Hawaii on the other hand, often did 4 or 5 away games in a row to save time and money, but even so the traveling, time zones and time spent on the road put a toll on the squad resulting in poor results
As a consequence of their losing record the home crowds came very short of filling the 50 thousand seater Aloha Stadium. Aside from a good 12 thousand that went to see Team Hawaii vs NY Cosmos, most attendances were below 4 thousand. All of this columnated to an estimated loss of $500k-1M in just a single season, and the franchise quickly moved to Tulsa in 1978.
Aside from defunct Team Hawaii, and a national team not recognized by FIFA, the islands only have soccer at a youth, college and amateur level. It would be interesting to a see a second shot at profession soccer in Hawaii, maybe at a 2nd or 3rd tier level, but the complicated geography will always be an issue.