To quote a recent article. And that is their problem. You can't be a Super Club and not compete every week against the best your country(and Canada) has to offer. You can't establish something as silly as Cosmos TV and even mention yourself with the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona when you are playing at Hofstra in a league that averages 3,800 with no stars. You can't talk about about tours against Real Madrid when you are D2. In many ways, O'Brien is as much a carnival barker as Paul Kemsley. Selling a fantasy, t-shirts, and what the Cosmos once were. Can you imagine the Ottawa owners saying things like that? It is laughable unless your only goal is MLS. I had to think there was a middle ground between O'Brien and Kemsley to bring back the Cosmos. Bringing back the Cosmos as a minor league team on LI does hurt the global brand whether O'Brien likes it or not. And there is a huge difference between playing the 2013 D2 Rowdies in NASL and LA Galaxy in MLS. The media coverage alone makes a huge difference. This only works if the Cosmos are truly going about this the right way and want to build to MLS. Where all those dreams about the Cosmos can happen. But O'Brien's comments rubbed me the wrong way as someone who doesn't get it and is in for a rude awakening about the NASL. And the true value of the Cosmos brand without being in MLS. I have a bad feeling about this. FCNY had plenty of dreams.
"Right now." Right now, guys. Not forever. Not set in stone. Right now. They saw being in NASL as the better choice to build their brand "right now." Look at the rest of the quote, which says all these things about MLS ambitions and "getting to the top -- and we will get to the top." Anything about Cosmos TV and tours against Real Madrid are not goals for "right now," but for "when we get to the top." The hysteria caused by one sentence taken out of context is unbelievable, but par for the course for this forum.
Listening to everything coming out of ownership it appears that the Cosmos don't want in MLS. You have to give up too much control by joining MLS. They want to control their brand and sign the players they want and sell the players they want. Who knows, maybe they get into the business of youth development and sell their players and reinvest. That would be a good business model for a D2 club. I'd much rather see the Cosmos stay in the NASL and build up our D2. What's more important for soccer in this country? Another MLS team or a solid D2?
"Right now." How does this explanation match up with the quote "when we get to the top -- and we will get to the top?" It doesn't. Your wishful thinking isn't going to make it so.
And the Cosmos, single-handedly, will find owners with $20 million for 3 of the 4 teams owned by Traffic: the Strikers, Silverbacks, Stars and Railhawks? And the Cosmos, single-handedly, will find owners with $20 million for more teams to join? And the Cosmos, single-handedly, will cut the financial losses of the 7 of 8 existing clubs (SA is making money, the rest are not). I don't think so, and neither does anyone with any sort of knowledge on the 2nd division. Sure, people might, maybe show up for the 2 home games against the Cosmos, but that won't do anything about the above three problems. And those are the 3 things that are hampering the 2nd division most right now. A "superclub" (in name only, since O'Brien specifically said he wasn't going spend big in the 2nd division) showing up once or twice every 6 months isn't going to magically label the D2 as "solid," whatever that means. It'll be the means to build a fanbase on Long Island and Queens until the time comes to pay for MLS entry. Right now, the best means to do that, in their opinion, is to have control over their players and contracts and media rights. And even if he meant later, it's not like a quote -- a single sentence fragment -- now is a definitive statement on what is going to happen in the next 3+ years. He is playing nice with NASL, who know and fully expect them to go to MLS eventually, while putting himself in position to haggle over the expansion fee. I have nothing but good to say about the NASL. I've started watching at least a game a week this year and it's going to be fun watching this team grow and the fanbase develop before moving on to MLS. I love the NASL as much as you do, but I have no delusions that the Cosmos are a magic wand that'll fix all its problems.
no, i didn't say that what i'm saying is you just have to give it time. The sport is growing and their will be demand for more clubs. Having The Cosmos in D2 is a big asset and it will spur the growth of D2. There should be a 10-15 year plan to develop NASL into a solid D2. If you look at relatively new soccer leagues, particularly Japan and China, the growth is coming from the lower leagues.
What, specifically, will it spur? How will the Cosmos being in D2 help any of the other clubs, except for a couple more eyeballs two games a year? Yeah, Japan and China are growing their lower leagues because they have a full first division, while ours is still expanding. The second division is more financially solid than it has ever been. It can use a few more Hartmans, though, and the Cosmos' existence won't really do much in that department. But now we're talking about what we want to happen or what we think is best, instead of what was actually said in the quote. Instead of focusing on this stuff, we should focus on what we, as fans, can do to help this team. What are our Year One Objectives?
WSW - what exactly does this article prove? I think it's poorly written & has some pretty flawed logic. The Cosmos are the saviors of NASL? Really? I'm a fan of the Cosmos & am thrilled to have them back in a league next year. I think the author lost me in the first paragraph with this ..."The NASL accomplished many feats signing up the New York Cosmos for entrance into their league beginning with the 2013 season. The signing stabilized the league, re-asserted them as the Division 2 professional Soccer brand and probably saved them from going under. ". Ok, where are the facts to support these assertions? I don't think the author is convincing. But IMO the Cosmos are not a magic bullet for the league. They are a great addition but that is it. They could be the next Montreal or FCNY - Point is they have a lot to do and they'd better do it well just to succeed as a team in the NASL. Success is not assured because they're the Cosmos. A lot of hard work and money have to be put into succeed. Just look at the Rowdies this year - they didn't do either and wasted a great opportunity.
Having worked with NASL (and lower level) clubs to find sponsors I would have loved to have a successful Cosmos to use in a sales pitch. Instead I had to answer about other clubs (and eventually our own) folding. Investors and sponsors can more easily be sold on a league with a successful Cosmos than with a folding CP Baltimore. Are Cosmos going to propel the NASL to world dominance, no? But a successful Cosmos could help some struggling teams from going over the edge or help some new clubs finds investors to get off the ground.
Please stop indulging these lunatics, be it posters like Cosmos_Kid or sites like Americanize Soccer. They just make us all look bad.
I think everyone knows the Cosmos are posturing. The only reason they came back is to play in MLS. To think otherwise would be an admission they are fools. MLS is hellbent on NYC and the Cosmos either become that team or they disappear. The NASL is very happy to be used as a stepping stone, and that is all they are to the Cosmos. But that doesn't mean we can't at least look at O'Brien's comments and laugh at his ridiculous carnival barker statements since right now they do not include the top league in North America. At face value they look silly. Particularly the part about investing that rumored $100 mil MLS expansion fee into a minor league team. No one on earth believes that. Even that stuff about the NASL being better for brand control is silly since being in D2 itself limits what you can do with your brand. You are operating with a very low ceiling. What good is having a great brand when your product is in a run down out of town store that no one shops in? And we can also debate whether this club has any idea what they are doing. As MLSinSTL said, success for the Cosmos in the NASL is far from guaranteed nor is it a magic bullet for the league. In fact, as a minor league team in the NYC area, they are going to be facing numerous challenges and competition. The nostalgia of the Cosmos name only gets you so far. Especially when it is attached to a minor league team, playing out in Long Island , in a league soccer fans don't pay attention to, without any stars. Right now, the Cosmos are basically the new version of the old A-League LI Rough Riders. Whether they build to MLS, or damage the brand and quickly go away to be the butt of many jokes like FCNY, remains to be seen. Whatever the case, we can agree to go back to shaking our heads at Cosmos_Kid and WSW's crazy posts.
Especially if those new investors see the road to MLS through NASL. The Cosmos are not solving all the issues in NASL - just look at Minnesota. This is not going to find them an owner - but it will bring more attention to the league. However, I was unaware that the whole league was in that bad of a financial situation.
QueensNick, I don't know how bad of a financial situation the league is in. I think the common line of thinking is that the league is supported by Traffic USA with their ownership of the Strikers, Railhawks (partial but still majority owner), Silverbacks (partial but still majority owner), and ownership stake in the league owned MN Stars. This means Traffic owns part or all of 4 teams in the 8 team NASL. That is a bad financial situation and needs to be fixed sooner than later by finding separate owners for these four teams. It's not unlike MLS when it contracted to 10 teams and had 3 owners. Most pundits thought MLS was in a bad financial spot then and were wondering how much longer the league would last. That's basically the same thing for NASL - how long will the owners of Traffic support the NASL adventure?
They've been in the business for a very long time, since the Miami FC days. I don't think they're gonna suddenly pull out of NASL for a while. Minnesota is the real concern, and the commissioner himself said they could be gone next season.
well i knew Traffic owned a lot of teams which as you stated - is no bueno man - but i wonder if the Cosmos really SAVED the NASL from going under. Seems a bit dramatic.
Even then, depends on how much they are losing. Minor league soccer (even MLS to a certain extent, still) is a losing proposition, but for the love of the game and some misguided business decisions by otherwise smart businessmen and women, we wouldn't have minor league soccer at all. The NASL is just the latest attempt at making at least one lower division league a little more stable and a little less of a losing proposition. We are only two seasons in and things aren't all bad, but they aren't all good either. There isn't much evidence that the league is in bad financial shape other than Traffic's heavy involvement. But that doesn't mean the league is financially wishy washy, unless Traffic is financially wishy washy. It merely means the NASL's grip on things is tenuous as long as a single entity controls so many assets until more independent owners can be found or until expansion diminishes the problem, or both.
What? You don't put great stock in a blog that is factually incorrect and read by no one. Well, no one but people who have nothing better to do than search the net all day and repost the wee gems they find for our edification and enrichment.
It's funny that when MLS started it's league eurosnobs were bashing MLS now it's the MLSnobs bashing NASL. NASL now has more stadium control in it's 2nd year than MLS had in it's second year. and MLS had 2 owners for how many teams back then?
Who is bashing NASL? We're talking about problems that are clearly there, not being snobby. If you truly love something, you will take an honest look at its flaws and think of how best to fix them.
Oh boy! Where to begin... QueensNick - I think it is overly dramatic and I don't know that any evidence is in the public domain that supports the league is in financial trouble. I agree with Speedcake - Traffic's ownership is a tenuous situation but does not necessarily mean it is bad. In fact, there would be no 2nd division without them for these last two seasons. That is a good thing. I think the NASL, specifically Commissioner Downs is focused on trying to find expansion owners and ownership for all the Traffic owned teams. Finally, WSW, I love your posts. Keep it up. But step back sometimes. Nobody's trolling here or being an MLS snob. I want the NASL to succeed (and MLS and USL Pro, and other leagues too). I want the Cosmos to be lightening in a bottle a second time in my life. This means that I want to see the Cosmos management run things well from the very start. They don't need to be perfect, but something close to perfect would be a good objective. They stated they wanted to be a professional outfit and I hope they are. They've made one announcement so far - now I'm waiting patiently to see what they do next. It should be a stadium, GM or coach announcement next.