New York Cosmos owner Rocco Commisso recently pledged to invest up to $500 million in U.S. Soccer, provided president Carlos Cordeiro sat down with him to discuss the future of the game in this country and the future of the NASL.
He originally set a deadline of May 21 for that meeting to take place, but has extended that deadline to May 31. Commisso presented his original request on April 13 and has not received a response to his latest efforts to sit down with U.S. Soccer officials.
Commisso wants “to engage in sustained direct negotiations through representatives empowered to make a deal” and figure out a way to get the NASL back off the ground for the 2019 season. He’s struggled to get U.S. Soccer to the bargaining table, and even cancelled a meeting between current and prospective NASL owners earlier this month because the federation could not attend.
Cordeiro and U.S. Soccer are open to a meeting, but they want more details from Commisso and his associates before agreeing to one. Cordeiro also mentioned that he is busy campaigning for the United 2026 World Cup hosting bid in his initial response to the Cosmos owner.
In addition to the request for a meeting, Commisso wants “a list of interim meetings and actions that it believes are prerequisites for a final board meeting at which a ‘yes or no’ decision on the proposal will be made.” He wants this final meeting to take place on or before June 29.
For what it’s worth, he did release a few details on what he wants his league to look like going forward. He wants to reboot the competition in 2019 with ten teams, former NASL sides New York Cosmos, Jacksonville Armada, Miami FC, and Puerto Rico FC. He also claims to have commitments from current NPSL teams in Hartford, Detroit, and Chattanooga.
He ambitiously hopes to have Division I sanctioning for the 2020 season, when he plans to add four more teams.