On the field the Cosmos were more successful after Pele, yes, but that wasn't the context of the discussion. Off the field (attendance, PR, etc.) they peaked in Pele's final year and the following year and went into steady decline after that. And again, what growth did the NASL have?
Avg attendance (source: kenn.com NASL Attendance Database): 1977 (the year Pele retired): 34,150 fans per game 1978 (the year after Pele retired): 47,856 fans per game 1979: 46,690 fans per game 1980: 42,754 fans per game 1981: 34,857 fans per game 1982: 28,743 fans per game 1983: 27,242 fans per game The first two years Pele played with the Cosmos (added to roster June 1975), they played at Downing Stadium, spent 1976 at Yankee Stadium, finishing 5th in the NASL in average attendance. It was only in 1977, Pele's farewell season, after the Cosmos moved to Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands that the Cosmos started their attendance dominance, edging out the Minnesota Kicks as the top drawing team in the old NASL. They were a significantly higher drawing team than everyone else in the NASL from 1978 to 1983, when they finished second in average attendance to a Vancouver franchise that went 24-6 and had moved into a brand new BC Place Stadium that year... 1979 season review, featuring a playoff game at the Meadowlands drawing 73k,,,,
Um, that seems to prove the point I made. Their attendance peaked in 1977, the year after Pele retired, and went into steady decline after that (48K, 47K, 43K, 35K, 29K, 28K)
No it wasn't the point you made and it's still not. Attendance did not "peak" in 1977, which was the year Pele retired, not "the year after." The Cosmos' average attendance in 1977 was 34,150. It went up by 13k per game THE YEAR AFTER Pele retired. Admit you're wrong or at least misspoke, please. The NASL's zenith year was 1980, not 1977.
Yes, it was a typo. Clearly I meant to type "Their attendance peaked in 1978, the year after Pele retired, and went into steady decline after that", relax. Now address the point I've been making,t hat once Pele;s impact wore off the Cosmos were a downward trending team. They may have been trending down slower than the rest of the league, but it wasn't going in a positive direction.
And it wasn't solely about how much the Cosmos drew at home. It was also about the record crowds they drew on the road. Below was a Thursday night playoff game after the Roughnecks got revenge on the Minnesota Kicks in the First Round of the 1979 playoffs. The local university shut down the east side of the stadium for renovations thinking Tulsa's NASL season would be over by that time.... 26k shoehorned into one side of the stadium on a Thursday night.... The following Sunday night the Cosmos official attendance was over 76k, the highest attended match of the season. ***“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” ― Edmund Burke
50% of this thread is two of the worst trolls here doing nothing but agreeing with each other's blatant lies and distortions.
I think it says a lot about maturity of the game in the US that teams' financial success is nowadays less tied to having a star player and more tied to on the field success. That's not to say stars don't matter now, of course they do. I'm just saying the weighting of the factors is shifted away from star players compared to even a decade ago in MLS.
I know my history just fine thank you very much. That still doesn't explain how a glorified friendly 39 years ago is a response to @TheJoeGreene's post.
In 1980, how many NASL teams had control of their own stadiums? How many had academy systems? In 1985, how many NASL teams existed?
Okay.. can someone explain why we are wasting time talking about the attendance of the NASL Cosmos in this thread about MLS expansion?
I don't know about this thread but among a certain subset of American soccer culture the new narrative du jour is that MLS is expanding too fast just like the NASl and will collapse after the expansion fee train runs out. Because ML$ is propped up by expansion fees, don't you know.
As a reminder: Number of World Cups the United States qualified for during the existence of the original NASL: Zero. Number of World Cups the United States has qualified for since the start of MLS: Five.
Because the same handful of trolls know that literally nothing will ever be done to stop them doing the same crap over and over again.
And suddenly I realize that the post numbers skip quite a bit and some of the posts don't make much sense. Thank you ignore list!