The freedom they gave to clubs, like the Cosmos, became their selling point to those who desired a more European-style format for the North American game. They revelled in their image as the anti-MLS, embracing an open system over the closed shop structure of their top-flight counterparts.
While MLS researches and scopes out every market they enter, almost to excess, the NASL would establish new teams and franchises in cities without much rhyme or reason - like in Oklahoma City or Puerto Rico. The Cosmos, and the NASL by extension, were North American football’s wild child. But whether or not the Cosmos are to emerge for the 2017 season, there’s a discussion to be had over what their apparent demise says about the North American game. So have the Cosmos died for the second time in a generation, or are they waiting to be resurrected once more? That is somewhat unclear, with reports claiming the club is currently looking for new buyers. The parallels between the demise of the storied franchise of the 1970s and '80s and the modern day one are striking. Nobody has been seen at the club’s Manhattan headquarters since, with the organisation essentially shutting up shop due to spiraling debts and reckless mismanagement. They won three North American Soccer League (NASL) titles in four years, but just weeks after winning this year’s Soccer Bowl, the Cosmos laid off their entire squad and coaching staff. At least until the Cosmos were revived in 2010 with a blaze of mainstream media exposure.ĭenied entry to Major League Soccer (MLS), the resurrected club entered the second tier of American football, the NASL, splashing the cash to sign players like Raúl González, Marcos Senna and Niko Krancjar. With debts piled high and crowds dwindling the club was wound up in 1985.
Image: Peter Robinson / EMPICS Sportīut as quickly as the Cosmos rose, they vanished. New York Cosmos players Johan Cruyff, Giorgio Chinaglia and Franz Beckenbauer during training for their Soccer Bowl match against Tampa Bay Rowdies. Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto all played for the Cosmos at the height of their popularity, with others like Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia and American goalkeeper Shep Messing featuring as cult heroes in what became the most romantic tale in North American football history.
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