Isn't the history of this something like: - 2009 more ambitious USL clubs break away and form NASL - Circa 2010, the "NeoCosmos" form, hire a bunch of spokesmen, sell merchandise and assume MLS will make them the second NYC team - After balking at the $100M expansion fee, the Cosmos decide to join NASL and swing them away from a partnership with MLS MLS partners with City Group and Yankees to found NYCFC as the second NYC market team. - Between Traffic Sports, stronger teams leaving for MLS or USL and poor expansion efforts like Rayo OKC and the SF Deltas, by 2016 NASL is on its last legs (while USL is expanding at a breakneck pace). Also, for a league formed based on independent ownership, the NASL starts taking draconian measures to keep teams from leaving. - In contrast, USL achieved stability and had remarkable growth after partnering with MLS after some very shaky years in the early 2010s. - In late 2016, Commisso rescues the Cosmos which at that point were shuttered (I believe someone here posted a picture of a sign taped to their office door saying that they were shut down and there was talk of MLS purchasing the Cosmos intellectual property). - In 2017, USSF balks at wavering Division 2 standards and the "NASL" sued the USSF over the decision stating that they weren't acting in the best interest of the game. I used quotes as it appears that it was a unilateral decision made by front office types and Commisso as member clubs stated that they weren't consulted first. - In 2018, NASL suspends play, three NASL teams (called B teams in two cases) join NPSL and Commisso apparently bankrolls rivals in USSF elections. - 2019, having not learned from history, several clubs join the "NPSL Founders/Members Cup" with the Cosmos. It is to be seen if seen if this will actually happen. - Throughout this, the 2017 NASL lawsuit meanders through continuations and discovery. Long answer but, at this point, my guess is that Commisso has lawyers on retainer and believes that MLS and USSF have colluded to control the lower leagues, stifling free enterprise. I bet he also feels burned after investing in a Division 2 soccer team, only to have that designation removed so that his investment is basically worthless other than maybe the Cosmos' IP (which was worth a supposed $1M early in the story).
Commisso came in long after all of this though. I remember the Cosmos2 saying they weren't interested in paying the huge MLS expansion entry fee. I recall their point at the time was they would rather use the money to build their own stadium. In a way, I can’t say I blame them all that much about that though. Especially since other teams who came in the last 10-11 years didn’t spend that fee.
Don't forget that it was NASL that drove the requirement for and agreed to the professional league standards that condemned them to division 3. Commisso fans claim that doesn't count because it was before his time but surely he had a duty to know what he was buying into.
Not long after all of it. As the timeline says Commisso bought the Cosmos in late 2016. The suit was filed in 2017. Which teams in the last 10 years didn't buy a share of MLS to get in? (I hate the term "expansion fee". What new Investor/Operators pay is the price of buying a percentage of the league). Every new team since at least 2005 has paid to get into MLS.
I know Toronto, San Jose, Seattle, Philadelphia, Vancouver , Portland and Montreal paid an expansion fee but I don't think it was as high as it is now. AEG assumed or inherited an existing MLS team and didn't pay a fee at all. They then relocated the franchise to Houston and even made a profit on the deal in the end after they sold their share to Golden Boy.
NYCFC paid an $100 million expansion fee, the same fee that the Cosmos turned down. You'd have to ask Shitty if they think it was worth it. But the Cosmos would be in MLS right now if they wanted. Instead they're beating up on the poor kids from Greater Lowell (Mass.)
In regards to the Quakes, I heard different stories about that $20 million expansion fee. Even so, its still not $250 mil which what it was 5-7 years later or from 2016 onward.
The fake Cosmos were full of poop. They never had the financial backing they pretended to have. All they tried to do was bull shit their way into MLS on the cheap. They were relying on that glorious Cosmos reputation to take them to the promised land, but Garber and company saw right through it.
You said, "Especially since other teams who came in the last 10-11 years didn’t spend that fee." Name one who did not pay an "expansion fee" in the last 10-11 years. The Dynamo move was in 2005/2006. That is 14 years ago. Yes, the amount has changed but teams still paid.
What do you mean? The time line I am talking about is 2006-2017. That is 10-11 years and it was just said Commisso came in at the end of 2016 or 2017. Or rather, 2006 + 10 or 11=2016 or 2017.
Not sure wha't so difficult to understand. The point is, they didn't want to pay a $250 million expansion fee and I don't balme them for that especially when other teams fees weren't that high. If San Jose came in 2008 and only paid $20 million as was stated, then why would he want to pay $230 million more only 6-7 years later? Saputo made a total stink about paying. Impact balked at MLS expansion fee - Sportsnet.ca
The $250 million expansion fee was because it was the New York market. It you want into the largest media market in the world, you gotta pay.
And how it all ended?, Saputo cried, kicked and screamed, but at the end he paid the fee and renovated Saputo Stadium. Everyone paid, different amounts, but they all paid. City paid 100 Million, what is the current rate?, close to 200 for the new franchises. Cosmos' head honchos were full of crap and poor (compared to MLS honchos)
Portland's entry was set at $40 million, but I think in the end Merritt said they paid around $35 million and at that it was over a few years.
That is relatively cheap and $200 million less than what it is now. Therefore, I don't blame Commisso for not wanting to pay that hefty fee. I mean, they all got in at a cheaper rate and in a span of time, it really wasn't that long ago. Unless you consider 5-10 years a long time.
But Commisso never bid for an expansion team. Every team since 2004 has paid an expansion fee. Toronto, RSL and Chivas paid $10 million, San Jose paid $20 million.
They had to bring their own balls? (Just seeing the name written on the ball, Ricky Burns. But #2 on the Caribou roster was a Ghanaian named George Lamptey according to the rosters available on various sites and I may be stereotyping here, but that fella doesn't look Ghanaian to me.) And now that I am down the rabbit hole, George Lamptey is apparently still playing rec ball and coaching in the San Francisco Bay area or was whenever this older-looking webpage was designed. . . . and he does not list the Caribous of Colorado stint on his CV (just the Sting and the Cosmos).
Even so, between the 1994 patriotic denim throwback and the organ donation night jersey, they've embraced being odd in a way I wish more teams would.
That photo - from the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph in March 1978 in training camp - is actually of defender Bernie Fagan, who didn't make the squad in part because he apparently didn't get along with coach Dave Clements. He spent 1978 in the ASL, then played a season in the MISL before finishing his career with three outdoor and two indoor seasons with the Timbers.