After all of the fanfare, VIP backing and posturing, the New York Cosmos will indeed take to the field as a soccer team yet again.
The Cosmos announced Thursday that they will play in NASL starting in the 2013 season, joining the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and Tampa Bay Rowdies as original NASL franchises playing in the modern edition of the league. The club did not announce where their home games will be played, and according to an NASL release, that information, along with technical staff and players, will be announced "in the near future."
The Cosmos brand was reborn in 2010, with the likes of Pele, Eric Cantona and Cobi Jones taking roles in an effort to bring the legendary club back to prominence. The club currently has an Under-23 side and an academy set-up and also fielded a star-studded team to play at Old Trafford in the Paul Scholes testimonial match last summer. The Cosmos were pushing hard to become the newest MLS expansion franchise before ownership turmoil derailed that quest, but the organization still has its sights set on one day reaching the top tier of U.S. Soccer.
"Our ultimate goal is to play at the very highest level, and we feel today's announcement is the first step in that direction," Cosmos chairman Seamus O'Brien wrote in a team statement.
What do you think of this development? Excited to see the Cosmos return to the field?
Share your thoughts below.
Brah..they’re Saudi. Theys gots monies to spend.
Hofstra University.
NY Cosmos Brand = Irrelevant to anybody under 50. It’d be great if NYC actually had a franchise that could fill seats. I’ll believe it when I see it though. The empty seats at Red Bull arena are ridiculous. #DOOP
It’s based on the statement made yesterday by the one of the new owners of DC United. He said it himself yesterday that they have “vast amounts of personal wealth”. Feel free to read the story. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/07/11/expect-more-foreign-investors-mls-says-dc-president
And it’s up to them how they spend their money. There is a difference between not wanting to spend money and not having money to spend. It appears that they have the money, which is the point I was making.
How do you know that Sela Sports has “vast amounts of wealth”?
Is it an assumption because, you know, every Saudi company has vast amounts of wealth, or do you actally know something about their finances?
And having the wealth means nothing if they’re not willing to spend it. Do you have inside information regarding Sela’s commitment to funding the Cosmos?
Hype got Obama elected. It can get people to show up for a few games
Oh it’s nostalgia that pays the bills in the northwest? I thought it was the huge sell out crowds every single week.
FYI…a Ross in Phoenix is selling Cosmos jersies for $20. Nearly snagged one for kicks but it was the white shirt.
It was fun driving to each Ross to see which random club shirts were on the rack: Union, Dynamo, FC Dallas, Rapids, Cosmos, Sporting Lisbon, Lazio, Cameroon…no method to the madness.
So is it good for business and the brand to put a farm league out to represent what has always been seen as an all-star team? You may be right, but to say it is ridiculous goes a little far.
And remember, even though Hofstra is a far more suburban location than Harrison, and further from the city, the Cosmos are the “real” NY team. Not sure why, but apparently it’s so.
That’s just a ridiculous idea. They will not field a star studded team in the second division, they will play their academy guys mixed in with some NASL/MLS veterans, and save the big bucks for when they’re in MLS.
Seattle and Portland were not defunct for decades before returning. This is a cash grab.
In case you haven’t noticed, the NASL has been a mess from the start. Calling this a fiasco isn’t going out on a limb. Enjoy watching your third-rate club tarnish history. Unlike you, I went to Cosmos games and this is a joke.
God, is it too far fetched to think they could attract a few stars to the NASL? It would be positive all around to have a dominant team in the 2nd division – both as a showcase for the league, and a team to give hell to the top flight teams.
This move is obviously a placeholder until they get an MLS stadium built, probably by 2014-2015. No way MLS brings in a second NY team that isn’t the Cosmos if the Cosmos are fielding a real team. The brand is too valuable.
true! love for the game and the idea of continuing the legacy of a club.
er…Cosmos..
hater, hater, hater. I’m am from newyork, NY have a very mix population. This is the first step, then MLS. Stop hating, the brand is worth a lot. You need a team of history in NY, I don’t mean NYRB history, I mean history of them adv. 70,000 fans a game once.
I think a fire was lit under the Cosmos Mgmt. to go and get a Sosmos team playing. By all intents and purposes, FIFA has limited most top division Leagues to 20 teams and the MLS has, right now, 19. That means the Cosmos, by name only, and not by any good competitive lower division team, would hope to get the final MLS spot. With all the other cities who have bid unsuccessfully to promote their lower division team to the MLS, this would seem unfair. But the MLS wants another team in the Big Apple, so they stressed to the Cosmos to get going.
I think, at some time, that the MLS will buy into one of the lower division leagues, maybe even the NASL and make it a “B” league for the MLS. They could add a slew of Franchises in the wanna-be MLS cities, expand it geographical presence to other parts of the US, and if the “B” League is successful, start a promotion/relegation to and from the MLS.
crazy how much hype and hate there is around this! either way people are talking about it so its good…
im happy they will be back playing soon. Get a some years in at the lower divisions and move up to MLS when the stadium and other details are ready. sounds like a good plan.
They will play at Hofstra Univesity.
One, the Cosmos are not done with MLS, there have been a few successful teams that have leaped to a different, more profitable league.
Two, the one thing that MLS was pretty stupid about was ignoring the heritage and history. Remember when they wanted to name the Sounders, the Alliance ? Wow, there was an outcry on that.
When the Sounders play the Whitecaps next they will talk about the 127 meetings before. That is part of what makes it so great.
Hype sells tickets & merchandise. Sales enable you to have a professional organization. Professional organization translates into success on the field. If you don’t like it then don’t support the team. Otherwise, stop making such asinine statements.
Troll. I don’t think you actually believe what you’re saying. Calling them a “fiasco” before they play a single game?!?!
Are you one of the people who also complains that Don Garber doesn’t know what he’s doing?
The current owners do have that kind of cash. Actually, they probably have more of it. The Cosmos are owned by Sela Sports, a Saudi Arabian sports marketing group which has vast amounts of wealth. If anything holds them back, it will be a salary cap.
And the team will actually exist. I don’t think it can be referred to as “hype” any longer.
Well played, Playah…Props!
So what if they are playing, I don’t think the brand is worth that much. At the end of the day you will have a third tier team. The cosmos although with a rich tradition and history have not played in close to thirty years. So what if they have Eric modeling thier gear or they put peles signature on the brand. Who cares, it’s all hype. And hype does not field a team.
It isn’t nostalgia that fuels Seattle and Portland fans. It’s a genuine love for soccer. I live 2500 miles away from New York, so I’m not the best judge, but do you think New Yorkers have the same passion for the game as Pacific Northwesterners (aka “Cascadians”)?
Cosmos dissing MLS
If they can survive by the time MLS put the team in NY and if they don’t damage the brand. This is going to be a fiasco. It was best to wait for MLS to come calling, but someone got desperate.
If you think this team can do what Seattle and Portland are doing, then I want what you’re having. How are the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Ft. Lauder Strikers doing? They must be printing money in Florida.
If they opened a soccer-only stadium in Brooklyn, the hipsters would be all over it…ironically.
Wow, it happened. I really thought it was all talk
I beg to differ. Nostalgia pays the bills in Seattle, Portland, & Vancouver. I suspect New Yorkers will be a little more skeptical and I doubt this team will draw in the NASL (neither did Seattle and look at them). But if and when they jump to MLS, the nostalgia will pay the bills.
It’s a proven recipe for success (look at the NW). Take the history you have, throw in a little revisionist history, market it like crazy, and the masses will buy in.
This is just sad and pathetic. This team won’t draw flies. It’ll just do more damage to the “Cosmos brand” than anything. Nostalgia doesn’t pay the bills.
This is just sad and pathetic. This team won’t draw flies. It’ll just do more damage to the “Cosmos brand” than anything. Nostalgia doesn’t pay the bills.
I think the goal of the current Cosmos incarnation is to do the opposite of the original brand vis-a-vis spending huge dollars that ultimately bankrupt the club.
If the team eventually makes it to MLS, they’ll be bound by the same DP rules all the other teams follow. Gone are the days of Beckenbauer et al.
let’s hope that they have a longer stay than FCNY who just dropped out of the NPSL mid-season.
Hartford bicentennials, Memphis Rougues, Detroit Express
Let’s be honest: Only the *name* is returning, not the tradition nor the players — least of all the organization. Warner Communications operated the original franchise, and had the money to sign Pele, Chingalia, Beckenbauer, et al. You think the current owners have that kind of cash? Don’t be fooled by media hype.
And then Team Hawaii, the Minnesota Kicks, Calgary Boomers, and Las Vegas Quicksilvers could join in?
How cool would it be if we ended up with three more MLS teams from the glory days of the NASL, Chivas should get their own stadium and rebrand as Los Angeles Aztecs, Beckham could bring MLS back to the south with the Miami Strikers, and the biggest story of all could be the return of the New York Cosmos…
Where will they play their games? If it’s within NYC that would be amazing, hopefully Brooklyn or Queens.
Now at least haters won’t be able to dismiss them as a fake team that doesn’t really exist aside from PR… I would love to see them become the 20th MLS team.
“NoooooOOOOOoooOOOooooOoooooO!11!!”
-Don Garber
would like to see the history of NASL glory days come to MLS, a la Northwest teams!
still need too get the organization up to speed. Their website is inundated will all the interest and won’t respond. But getting the Cosmos back to soccer in any American league is a good thing!!!
Amazing that in all of the announcements I’ve read today for this, it is never mentioned where the Cosmos will play their home games! Including your blog Ives.
Is Cantona still with the organization? Can’t find his name anywhere on any press releases.
good first step but they have to try to find a place to play in queens since that is where the new mls team will have there stadium