I do believe he inherented the rights to the Cosmos so if he sold it for 2 bucks he's technically making a profit. I think he realized that Sela/Kemsley we're his last chance to make anything of the name if he didn't put his own money in. And as others had said beforehand he wasn't rich enough to restart the Cosmos team so MLS was never an option and honestly at first like falvo mentioned MLS wanted to distance itself from the original NASL so they weren't interested in the name and colors.
It was funny, but in 1996 MLS wanted to distance themselves away from the NASL but everything they did seemed to reflect a lot of the same things the old league use to do with marketing and name players in big markets as well as old NASL coaches or former players. Even Lamar Hunt was an owner in the old league. Columbus Crew: Timo Liekoski New York/New Jersey MetroStars: Eddie Firmani Tampa Bay Mutiny: Thomas Rongen Colorado Rapids: Bob Houghton and Roy Wegerle Kansas City Wiz: Ron Newman San Jose Clash: Laurie Calloway Still can't get over those inaugural, 1996 MLS Jerseys.. My God, what were they thinking?
Blame Nike. They insisted on "American-izing" the league. Nike – thanks to its financial commitment to MLS and its reputation as an innovative global brand – was assigned to create brands and looks for half of the incoming MLS franchises. Bernstein notes that Nike worked closely with the league in creating brands, tailoring names and colors to the specific markets where the teams would play, as well as what he judiciously describes as “what colors were interesting to people during that time.” https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016...-jose-clash-got-their-names-and-original-look One bow to NASL was the Clash appointing former Earthquakes owner Peter Bridgwater as President and General Manager.
Yeah I forgot about Peter Bridgwater as President and General Manager. He was a smart man. He was a guy that inherited the Earthquakes name and logo and used it to field an amateur Quakes team from 85-88. He also held onto the international rights to field FIIFA sanctioned exhibitions and tournaments at Spartan Stadium in San Jose after the NASL folded. He told me he wished he could have owed the team but he couldn't afford a franchise fee.
I like that they went with American names. It is an American league after all. However they did pick some really bad names, but that was kinda on par with most of the expansion teams from the other leagues in the 90s.
Nike wanted to name the Chicago team the Rhythm the owners or investors balked and named them the Fire and there wasn't much they could do about it. Wonder if it were two years later if former Sting owner Lee Stern would have sold them the Sting name and logo as Peter Bridgwater did with the Clash-Quakes in 2000.
If I recall, it had more to do with price than anything. Pepe wasn't going to buy in to anything. He was going to sell the IP to the Cosmos - which at the time it wasn't entirely clear that he really owned it. At the end of the day, Kluge and Subotnick, owners of MetroMedia opted to go with MetroStars than pay Pinton's price AND deal with any possible legal challenges. From what I do recall (hazy) Pinton was asking for something like two million for the Cosmos IP. I'm guessing that Kluge and Subotnick weren't anywhere near that valuation. After all, it was a 10 years dead soccer team.
And while we enjoy piling on Nike, if I recall they were the equipment manufacturer for only 5 of the original ten teams. DC, Columbus, and KC were adidas, The Revs were Umbro or Aviso? and Colorado was Puma or Kappa maybe. The rest were Nike. I think the Fire in 98 were also Nike, and I'm not sure who the Fusion were. I'm sure some google image searching would help. The above picture of the Wizards players in blonde wigs was from a blond wig "Valderrama Night" giveaway at the Sombrero in Tampa. The KC press officer snagged a box of the wigs and took it to the locker room. The KC starters ran out wearing the wigs on a lark.
Was the whole "MLS won't respect our [Cosmos] history and heritage true though or just political theater?
Absolutely political theater. The Cosmos brand only good as the players representing the team (the team is known as a "superstar" team), having MLS cast offs and the occasional decent euro player isn't gonna cut it and honestly hasn't. Imagine a team with David Villa, Frank Lampard and Pirlo on it, wouldn't that be a Cosmos ish team? Well that was NYCFC in 2015...
1996 Nike: DAL. LA, NYNJ, SJ, TB Adidas: CLB, DC, KC Puma: COL Reebok: NE In 1997 COL changed to Reebok In 1998 CHI launched with Nike and and MIA launched with Umbro.
'96 Revolution = Reebok '96 Rapids = Puma '98 Fusion = Umbro (Didn't even need to do a Google search )
Well, the Wizards uni was nothing to write home about, but they had worse coming. But DC and CLB were clear winners that first year. And all of the Nikes simply stunk.
For years, George Nanchoff, who played for like 10 NASL teams, had a soccer shop in Akron (actually Cuyahoga Falls) and he hung all his old shirts on the walls. And right there above the door was not just a fringed Colorado Jersey but a game worn 10 shirt. I can't tell you how many times I plotted grabbing that thing and running for it. I was probably far from the only one.
I'd love to know just how much mileage the Kemsley/Byrne/Sela ownership(s) got out of the name in terms of retro gear sales. I'd bet it's nowhere near the money they sunk in the thing overall - nostalgia is a somewhat limited market- but just how much in pure dollars did they ever glean from the license?
When they launched, quite a few stores in NYC had a good section of Cosmos gear, more than either MLS club. A few months or so later, all that stuff was still there, marked down. Meanwhile NYCFC gear is everywhere (by MLS standards) on NYC streets!
Good news, you can now get a replica, though there's no fringe https://www.ultras.com/products/caribous-road2-soccer-jersey-ult-82298?variant=36801791262874