If I said name a US Soccer team, you might go with the more modern LA Galaxy, Inter Miami or New York Red Bulls, however if you’re a certain vintage or just a nerd like me then the one names that comes to mind is the New York Cosmos.
The original club that existed from 1970-1985 played mostly in the defunct North American Soccer League. It had famous names such as Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer and of course Brazil legend Pele.
But that’s not the version of the Cosmos that we’re here to talk about, I’m going to take you on a journey of the somewhat failed revival of the New York Cosmos which was launched in 2010.
The team was revived to get into the MLS, with a second New York franchise being rumoured which eventually went to New York City FC.
This new version of the Cosmos would have some famous face donning its jersey such as Real Madrid legend Raul. However, the after the initial buzz of the Cosmos being back wore off, attendances dropped, and they moved to increasingly smaller stadiums.
Eric Cantona the Manchester United legend who has been a prominent part of the club’s launch sued the club in 2015 over unpaid wages. It turns out that one of the most marketable names in US soccer was just that, a marketing stunt.
In fact, in 2016 the club nearly folded entirely, with an inability to pay staff, when it seemed all was lost in stepped Rocco B. Commisso a cable tv executive with a lifelong interest in the sport.
The new version of the NASL would be the league the New York Cosmos would call home, as the second tier of soccer in the United States, it was a largely erroneous decision to sue the MLS and the US federation. This lawsuit made sure that the New York Cosmos would never become an MLS franchise. Once the lawsuit was thrown out the MLS announced that City Football Group and the New York Yankee’s would have the franchise for New York City FC.
The new North American Soccer League would fold at the end of the 2017 season leaving the New York Cosmos without a league in which to compete. Despite the Cosmos winning a record three titles, it took the club two years to find another league this time the third tier National Independent Soccer Association (NISA).
However, the club only played the 2020 season and since then has been on hiatus, since 2020 the teams owner Rocco B. Commisso has bought Italian club ACF Fiorentina which he purchased in 2019, which lead to Cosmos supporters accusing their owner of favouring the Italian outfit over them.
So will we ever see the New York Cosmos return? Not to top flight US soccer no, the MLS once needed the Cosmos brand but that day has long since passed, now the opposite is true, the New York Cosmos need the MLS more than the MLS need them.
If someone were to buy the brand they’d probably be better off starting a t-shirt business rather than forming a football club that let’s be honest would be ultimately forgettable, when you have Atlanta United playing at a massive stadium and getting average crowds of around 50,000 is there value in having a team with no stadium, no squad when the MLS has the New York Red Bulls and New York City FC, you’d argue no.
Ultimately what made the Cosmos unique in their time is now part and parcel of the modern MLS, the NASL had Pele, the MLS has Lionel Messi.
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