Last month (July 2012) it was announced that the New York Cosmos had been accepted into the NASL, the division below the MLS, following on from their high profile "We're Back" re-launch with Pele and Cantona in October 2010 and subsequent clothing range. So what is all the fuss about?
In 1971 the Cosmos were formed by Warner Communications executives Ahmet and Neshui Ertegun who had previously created Atlantic Records. They were backed by the owner of Warner, Steve Ross, a self confessed sports addict.
It all started well, playing out of the Hofstra University Stadium, they won their first league title overcoming the St. Louis Stars 2-1 with Bermuda born Randy Horton becoming the first Cosmos fans hero. They reached the semi finals in the following year before drifting off into mediocrity.
With no trophies and dwindling attendances (down to an average of 3, 578 by 1974). Steve Ross decided something needed to be done. The solution was to sign the World's greatest player, Pele. This wasn't done overnight and due to Pele's immense national importance in Brazil it included conversations between the US and Brazil foreign offices. Pele eventually signed for the Cosmos on the 10th of June 1975 on a salary which is still debated today. What is not debatable is that it was a ground breaking sum for American sport, let alone one without a national TV deal. Pele's first game for the Cosmos was against the Dallas Tornado infront of a sell out crowd at Downing Stadium, Randall's Island and was televised nationally, the pitch looking perfect due to the bare patches being spray painted green the day before.
The Cosmos originally moved to Randall's Island in 1974, but moved on to the Yankee's stadium for a season in 1976, where Pele was joined with Lazio's prolific goal scorer Giorgio Chinaglia. When Chinaglia left Lazio it was reported that fans were so distraught they threatened to throw themselves under the wheels of the plane to prevent him leaving. Chinaglia was controversial and always outspoken. The players were once specifically told they would be fined should they go out the night before a match, Chinaglia stood up, asked who were going out with him and paid the fine for them all there and then in cash. Whatever anyone thought of Chinaglia he had a strong bond with Steve Ross and most importantly scored goals and plenty of them, 193 in 213 Cosmos games, scoring 50 of them in the 1980 NASL season.
The following season, now at the legendary Giants Stadium, with new signings Carlos Alberto and 1974 World Cup Winner Franz Beckenbauer the Cosmos won their second Championship in Pele's third and final season. The Cosmos went onto win three more in 1978, 1980 and 1982.
While Pele raised the profile of 'Soccer' immensely in the USA, it can be argued that it acted as a blue print for other teams whose owners did not have the financial muscle of Steve Ross. Many a high profile player crossed the Atlantic to join other NASL franchises, Johan Cruyff at the Washington Diplomats, George Best joined the LA Aztecs and Rodney Marsh became the talisman of the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Other notable players were Gordon Banks and Trevor Francis.
It could not last and it didn't. Over paying for players and too many teams in the league caused the collapse of some franchises, considerable decline in attendances and no TV deal. It was inevitable.
Or was it? Steve Ross felt America need a renewal of enthusiasm in Soccer, that would come in the form of the Fifa World Cup. The biggest sporting event on the planet held in America and televised the World over. It was achievable too, Colombia were due to host the 1986 World Cup but withdrew due to financial problems. Steve Ross lobbied Fifa, the Governing body for World football and they awarded it to Mexico, who had already hosted it in 1970. Within a year the NASL folded. When Fifa eventually awarded the World Cup to USA in 1994, it was on the strict condition that America created a professional soccer league.
So there is the history, so what of the new New York Cosmos? In true Cosmos tradition the re-launch was dramatic and delivered what it promised, for a short time anyway. Englishman Paul Kemsley was the driving force, on borrowed money, which he could not pay back. With talk of ex-Liverpool Chief Executive Rick Parry taking charge the Cosmos fell into the hands Saudi Arabia based Sela Sport who promise a much more careful and considered approach to the ultimate goal of entering the franchise into the MLS.
The day of the Cosmos at the top of US Soccer may be a long way off, with issues of building a soccer specific stadium in one of the World's most difficult and expensive places to buy real estate. To address it is not going to be an easy ride. If history tells us anything, it will be an entertaining one.
