I'm sure most of you are familiar with this "movement". Do you think they have a chance? http://www.soccernova.com/html/activism/cosmos_campaign/cosmos_campaign.htm
Someday the league will be ready for two teams in one market. Maybe the rumored Cleveland / Columbus one as well. I'll never forget the day I saw Pele play in Los Angeles. Perhaps he would be there for opening day for the new Cosmos. Especially if this movement gets what they want, namely a new stadium named after Pele.
This is the "group" (though I suspect it's just a handful of computer geeks) that wants to convert Shea Stadium when/if the Mets move, they even want to call it "Pele" stadium. It's a fantasy.
agree..... i think that the resurrection of that franchise have a long way to make in order to have a chance in the next MLS expansion
I think the only way that this would work is for the Metrostars to become well established before an expansion team is brought to NY. The Metrostars need to establish a firm foothold in NJ, and I think the best ways to do this are with their own stadium, maybe winning an MLS Cup or two, and simply the passing of time. Unless there is an expansion explosion in the next few years, it will be quite a while before the MLS has reached its limit(20? 24?). I think a lot of what those guys are saying is true, and there is a real possibility that a NY Cosmos team would be very successful. But I think MLS will allow the Metrostars to mature as a franchise before doing the Cosmos thing.
MLS was (and possibly still is) thinking about a second team in the NYC area, probably Queens or Long Island. When it seemed like more of a realistic possibility, there was very extensive debate on these boards about the merits of the idea. The "Cosmos" name is a trademark, allegedly owned by the proprietor of some soccer camps in the NY area. If an expansion team ever did start up in New York, they'd be fools to not consider using the "Cosmos" name, but they'd also be fools to pay as much as the trademark holders are rumored to want for it. As far as I know, the Cosmos "Campaign" is basically one guy who used to hang around on these boards and post diatribes about how having a New York Cosmos in the league would be the magic bullet to cure all of MLS's ills. I forget exactly why he left but I suspect he got tired of being regarded as kind of a joke around here.
I just wanted to point out that Cleveland and Columbus are independent markets. There would likely be some significant travelling for matches between the two, but its a solid 2 or 2 1/2 hour drive. Cleveland's metro area is around 3 million and Columbus has about 1.7. As a native Ohioan who's lived in both I just wanted to establish that.
You obviously have not made many trips by car from Queens to NJ across the GW bridge with a little traffic Seriously, the argument has been made (and has merit) that despite the close proximity, Long Island and New Jersey are completely separate markets no different to Columbus and Cleveland in terms of cannabolizing fans.
I realize NYC can support two teams, probably a lot more than that if all goes well. I think it would be wonderful if, with perhaps some lower divisions, there would be ten or even a dozen teams in the greater NYC areaI was just commenting on how someone referred to two seperate and reasonably large cities (which happen to have been populated by me) as effectively one.