The New York Cosmos: A 'superova' club redefining itself in the modern American soccer landscape.

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American soccer is at an inflection point in its modern history. MLS is expanding and the lower leagues continue to grow with the USL adding its own third division and the invention of NISA, an independent third division outside the MLS and USL structure. Millionaires and billionaires are the throwing their money behind the sport like never before with investments coming in on all levels of the pyramid, as even clubs in the amateur NPSL are looking to go pro in the coming season, even without the immediate promise of promotion and relegation. As new clubs form however; old established clubs are beginning to get crowded out with some vanishing (for different reasons). One of these clubs is the New York Cosmos who despite the headwinds are looking to reinvent themselves in the modern era.

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The New York Cosmos to this day are still the most recognizable brand in American soccer outside the US. In the 1970s they were a club that was at the center of the Old NASL with the likes of Pele and Giorgio Chinaglia gracing their special green kit. The owner that took them to such great heights was Steve Ross, the president of Warner Brothers who believed at the time that soccer would be the next great American sport. The Cosmos and the NASL during this period brought the first real mainstream interest of soccer in this country in many decades. Sadly, this chapter was only short lived as in 1984 the league folded and interest in the game waned again. The Cosmos in this era stood for soccer’s realized potential in a country where soccer previously was never loved in the mainstream.

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Ross with Pele during the old NASL.

Now, the landscape of American soccer has shifted. In 2010 the club was re-founded in the NASL, at the time American soccer’s second division. Sadly, once again the league folded in 2017 for many different reasons. The NASL unlike MLS, which is a single entity system, stood for independent clubs. Now, since the league folded the Cosmos have joined NPSL as a refuge while they wait on the decision of the lawsuit between USSF and the NASL over alleged anti-trust agreements between MLS and USSF.

Their Italian-American owner, Rocco Commisso is at the heart of this controversy. Commisso ironically like Steve Ross, is an executive of a large media company in New York (called Mediacom). However; unlike Ross who was just interested in getting corporate money into the game to develop it in the 1970s, Commisso is interested in doing soccer correctly in this country and not the ‘American’ way.

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Commisso at a Cosmos game at Coney Field in Brooklyn. 

Unlike the other two New York soccer teams in the area, which are run by City Football Group and Red Bull, two international soccer empires in their own respects, Commisso is an owner of the people as you can often see him in the stands with Brigata 71 and the 5 Points ultras groups chanting and dancing at Cosmos games.

The Cosmos in the modern era under Commisso represent a growing movement of independent soccer clubs in NISA and the NPSL that aren’t part of the single entity system of MLS with the ultimate end goal of promotion and relegation.

Given the current circumstances, the NY Cosmos’s role is slightly different from the 1970s, however; Rocco and the club have the same intentions. The Cosmos truly want to bring soccer into the mainstream consciousness of this country and do it in the right way. The question is whether the club will die out once again in doing so or if the reinvention of the club can lead to success in a system run by a federation that is currently working against them and their outspoken owner.