The 1996 USISL Premier League season was its second. The season began in April 1996 and ended in August 1996.
Central Coast Roadrunners won the championship, defeating the San Francisco Bay Seals 3–2. Spokane Shadow won the regular season title, winning 14 games to 2 losses.
12 teams were added for the season.
| Team | Area | Location | Previous affiliation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellingham Orcas | Northwest Washington area | Bellingham, WA | expansion | |
| Central Coast Roadrunners | Central West Coast area | San Luis Obispo, CA | expansion | |
| Florida Strikers | Greater Miami area | Fort Lauderdale, FL | from USISL Pro | |
| Lexington Bluegrass Bandits | Lexington area | Lexington, KY | from USISL Pro | |
| Miami Tango | Greater Miami area | Miami, FL | expansion | |
| Mid-Michigan Bucks | Flint/Tri-Cities area | Saginaw, MI | expansion | |
| Omaha Flames | Omaha-Council Bluffs area | Omaha, NE | expansion | |
| San Diego Top Guns | San Diego area | San Diego, CA | from USISL Pro | |
| Southern California Gunners | Inland Empire area | San Bernardino, CA | expansion | |
| Spokane Shadow | Spokane area | Spokane, WA | expansion | |
| West Florida Fury | Emerald Coast area | Pensacola, FL | expansion | |
| Willamette Valley Firebirds | Corvallis area | Corvallis, OR | former Portland Firebirds of the USISL Pro League |
Five teams folded after the 1995 season:
Central Coast received a bye to the PDL Semifinals as the defending champion.
The top four teams from every division except the Southwest earn playoff spots. With Central Coast already receiving a bye, the top two teams from the Southwest Division will play each other, however if Central Coast is in the top two, then the third place team receives a playoff spot. The Division winners would then face each other in the Conference finals.
--------
--------
--------
Six teams entered the Premier Six Tournament in Cocoa, Florida the weekend of August 16–18. Each of the five division playoff champions qualified for the tournament, along with the host Cocoa Expos. The teams were seeded in this order, based on their regular season points:
The Central Coast Roadrunners played the bottom two seeds (Jackson and Mid-Michigan). The San Francisco Seals played the #4 and #6 seeds (Omaha and Mid-Michigan). The Cocoa Expos played and #4 and #5 seeds (Omaha and Jackson).
In order to determine the two teams to qualify for the finals, the league used the following point system during the Premier Six Tournament:
| Place | Team | W | SW | SL | L | BP | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central Coast Roadrunners | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| 2 | San Francisco Bay Seals | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 5 | Jackson Chargers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 6 | Mid-Michigan Bucks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |