Congratulations go out to the New York Cosmos for kicking off their 2015 home campaign with a bang. Former Real Madrid striker Raul made his New York home debut as the Cosmos pulled out a stellar 2-0 victory. The victory came in front of a jam packed sellout crowd of 12,550 at James M. Shuart Stadium, with former Cosmos legend Pele in attendance as a special guest. Considering the hoopla and spectacle of the match, it furthered my desire to figure out exactly what is the Cosmos’s end game? What is their ultimate goal?
The New York Cosmos reincarnation in recent years brought nostalgia to older soccer fans, and awareness of the club to a new wave of American soccer supporters. The re-launch also garnered much needed publicity to the revived North American Soccer League (NASL) as it continues to seek stability. Such efforts are noble and admirable, but I am at a loss as to what exactly the Cosmos organization is trying to accomplish.
The Good Old Days
For those unaware, the New York Cosmos were a one-time juggernaut in the original North American Soccer League of the 1970’s & 80’s. The league lasted 16 seasons and included a national footprint that spanned from sea to shining sea and also Canada. With teams folding and relocating on a year to year basis, the leagues long-term stability was frequently in question.
The NASL peaked in the late 70’s when worldwide superstar Pele came to the fold and played three magnificent seasons for the New York Cosmos. Similar to how David Beckham’s arrival to Major League Soccer in the mid-2000’s lifted MLS to new heights and lent credibility to the fledgling league, Pele provided a similar boost to the NASL. The difference being, Pele’s surge was short-lived and eventually weaned, whereas Beckham solidified MLS for the foreseeable future.
While Pele and other aging European stars donned the green and white Cosmos kits, the club became a mammoth fish in a small pond. It was no coincidence that the league’s apex in the late 1970’s coincided with the Cosmos peak during the same time span, during which fan attendance increased, TV coverage expanded, and the league was firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately, the fly-by-night growth halted just as rapidly as it skyrocketed. Due to the influx of over the hill stars looking to land a final payday, the excessive payrolls made the league a victim of its own success. Both the NASL and Cosmos ceased operations in 1984. A watered down version of the Cosmos continued as a professional indoor soccer team, but the experiment was short-lived. From then on the Cosmos lived on only in memory for nearly 30 years.
Far Out
The New York Cosmos was a phenomenon that only comes once in a lifetime. In fact, there is a terrific documentary about the club titled “Once in a Lifetime” which chronicles the rise and fall of the franchise. During that period, the original North American Soccer League was an upstart league that caught lightning in a bottle thanks to a team of global superstars and the curiosity of a sporting nation. What ensued was essentially a five year run of unprecedented success. In my humble opinion, that is where the story should have concluded. Attempting to resurrect a cheap version of it 30 years later seems desperate.
Is disco still a global phenomenon? Do we still refer to Studio 54 as a “tradition” today? No, we do not. And neither are the 2015 New York Cosmos. I have heard such terminology thrown around by numerous soccer fans and writers since the revamped Cosmos were unleashed. The original Cosmos had a 7 or 8 year run of success and then disappeared for over a quarter century. Slapping the old logo and name on kits of today doesn’t equate to the tradition living on or that a “global brand” is intact. Similar to the 35 year old guy still wearing his high school letter jacket, clinging onto tradition generally indicates a lack of progression or success in modern times. In my opinion, that’s the New York Cosmos of 2015.
The 21st Century Cosmos
The Cosmos of yesteryear had a tremendous run. The Cosmos of today are still in their infancy, sure, but lacking the megastar power of the original Cosmos means relevancy domestically and globally is nonexistent. Average attendance last season was under 5,000 fans per game, down from the near 7,000 averaged in its inaugural re-birth season. When one time European stars Marco Senna and Raul signed with the club, I questioned if they understood that this is the same team that Franz Beckenbauer and Pele played on merely by name alone. This is not the actual brand that took American sports by storm. This isn’t the one-time global phenomenon that played in front of 70,000 fans at Giants Stadium. This is a sub-par wannabe version of those squads playing in front of 5,000 fans.
The Cosmos of today dare to aspire to reach such great heights again. A shoot for the stars mentality is courageous and admirable, for which I applaud them and wish them well. However, I just can’t grasp what their end game is. Talks of constructing a 25,000 seat stadium with an approximate price tag of $400 million were recently on-going. That certainly doesn’t sound second division or minor league to me. Sacramento Republic FC is in the midst of taking much of the same steps, seeking to build a stadium, drum up support, etc., but they have indicated emphatically their supreme goal is to become an MLS franchise. All of the legwork then makes sense.
If the Cosmos make enough noise and reach unprecedented levels of success in the NASL and U.S. Open Cup tournaments, would Major League Soccer be open to a 3 clubs in the New York market? I strongly doubt it. Publicly, the Cosmos have stated they have zero desire to be in MLS anyway. Is that sour grapes now that NYCFC is in place? Is that the whole truth? I don’t know. Do the Cosmos want to be prime for a potential promotion /relegation system in American soccer? Such a system doesn’t seem plausible. I just can’t wrap my mind around what is going on with the Cosmos. I bet Neil deGrasse Tyson can’t even figure this one out. What are your thoughts? What do you think the Cosmos are up to?
