If you could get the Cosmos back next year wouldn't you take that instead of waiting 'til 2012 or beyond for a New York expansion franchise? Like someone said, Red Bull can still own the team.. just buy the Cosmos name and you still would have the Red Bull jersey sponsor splashed across the front just like it is now. It would be the best of both worlds for them.
Agreed. This "rumor" makes little or NO Business sense. I have seen no indication that Red Bull the Corporation is in trouble or that it is interested in raising cash, or divesting itself of various business properties. Why on earth would an organization, 1. after spending considerable money on acquiring the team, 2. paying additional money to own the Stadium outright, 3. operating within a League termed the Best in the US, 4. at a time when assets are valued relatively low, and 5. a decades old plan is about to be brought to fruition decide to just chuck it, pack up and go home. Duh????
Honey Dipped Cosmos vs. Extra Spicy Cosmos...........................................................ok i stop.(the spice girls might get mad)
The New York Red Bulls vs The New York Coca-Colas. What's more American than that? Commercial heaven.
I have no idea if the rumor is true -- I tend to doubt it too -- but here's how it might make very good sense. With apologies for repeating part of a post I made on the RBNY forum, let's step back and consider naming rights and their value. Recall that when it was constructed, Home Depot payed $70 million for the naming rights to the HDC over a 10 year period -- that actually covered much of the cost of the stadium portion of the facility. Since then, MLS naming rights deals for DSG Park and Pizza Hut Park have gone out 20 years, and Rio Tinto went 15, although none of the approached the $7 million annual fee Home Depot paid. So what are the naming rights to Red Bull Arena worth over, say 20 years? Is ten million a year really all that unrealistic, especially if shirt sponsorship rights are part of the deal too? As part of a conventional naming rights deal, RBNY would pay the money that would fund much of the stadium construction to the team owner, only to see their name stripped off the stadium when the naming rights expired in 10, 15 or 20 years. Here, they can lease the stadium to the new owner for a negligible amount of rent, let the new owner keep the ancillary income, and when the 20 year period ends, unlike Home Depot, or Citi Group that just shelled out $500 million for CitiField, RBNY still owns the stadium when the deal is done, or at least a part of it. The point is, Red Bull doesn't have to get someone to pay them $200 million cash for the stadium to get its value out of the deal, the naming rights alone probably are worth that over a long enough period of time, and the stadium is a great residual value. Beyond that, RB can pull out perhaps $40 million cash for the team itself by selling now, and it doesn't have to cover any losses the team suffers going forward. Again, I have no ideal if the rumor is true, but economically it makes some sense to me. Indeed, if they don't really want to operate the team, it is pretty smart.
I think this rumor is based on RBNY doing a rename/relaunch of the team on the eve of the stadium opening. They've seen the success in Seattle and TO of big buzz, and they want to create it themselves.
I miss the MetroStars. Oddly enough that's one of the only original 96 names I thought was cool. Whoever buys them should rebrand them as the MetroStars again.
Everything RB has and does is a branding effort for RB, and so that part of the identity is not going away as long as they're in charge. They're simply not going to turn around and call the team the NY Cosmos or something, and give the team a new logo which has nothing to do with their brand logo, and yet still be running the thing. If the project doesn't carry their image, it's of no use to them - they're simply not interested in owning a soccer team for the fun of it. And a half-assed rebrand to something like "RB FC," in order to seize on TFC/SSFC's successful sheen of authenticity, would be seen through and dismissed instantly.
A lot of drinks make the money entirely off branding. Red Bull is no different to Coke or McDonalds or sportswear companies, and they've been around a long time.
I didn't say to what degree they would relaunch, just that I think they will definitely do some heavy marketing that may involve a rename or repositioning of the name. They might even keep the same jersey and stadium sponsorship and pretty much everything else. But these guys will have a huge marketing push all over the city in advance of their arena opening up. For those who think this relaunch is fake or simple window dressing, those guys made up their mind a long time ago. They wont be losing any fans because of that. They need to reach people who have either never heard of the team, don't like the idea of the team being called the same as an energy drink, or know almost nothing about the team/MLS but are ready for a big event to bring them into the fold. ANYWAYS... that's what I think will happen. And I think this whole rumor started as a mistranslation of whatever is actually planned.
NY Post says it isn't happening: http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/soccer/archives/2009/04/sources_red_bul.html Reason why I could understand the rumor is precisely because it is a marketing vehicle, and companies change marketing strategies, especially in recessions. That's why Warner Communications sold the Cosmos back in the day--the company hit some budget cuts, and the team, which had been justified to the company by Steve Ross as a promotional vehicle, was the first fat to cut. Similarly, it doesn't seem clear how Red Bull has been getting its investment out of the team. They say about advertising that the trouble with it is "I'm wasting half my money, I just can't figure out which half." It wouldn't shock me if at some point, though seemingly not now, the company decides that this is the half that's wasted.
I don't think they can do that. Someone on here explained it once. I think Warner Communications has the copyrights to the name Cosmos and the person who could have sold the rights is dead now, or something like that.
The guy who owns the rights is Pepe Pinton, who worked for the team back in the day. He's the tiny little guy sitting in among all the Cosmos stuff near the end of "Once In A Lifetime" talking about being the last guy on the sinking ship. He wants an obnoxious sum of money (last time I heard, upwards of $2 mil) for the rights. Personally seeing as those who actually remember the Cosmos from seeing them live ain't getting any younger, sitting on the name doesn't seem like a good business idea in the long run...
Personally seeing as those who actually remember the Cosmos from seeing them live ain't getting any younger, sitting on the name doesn't seem like a good business idea in the long run... That s my guess as well, if Red Bull nor NY2 buys the Cosmos name, he will have to wait maybe 50 more years for NY3
I don't see why anyone would clamor to call a NY team the Cosmos. It would take people about five seconds to realize they don't have a modern-day Pele and a modern-day Beckenbauer surrounded by a world-class lineup, and that would be the end of that marketing gimmick. Seems like a bad idea to me. Put a team in New York City proper and do a halfway decent job of running it and people will show up no matter what they're called.
with the coming of a terrific new stadium in 2010-- probably the class of the league-- why would Red Bull owners wnat to sell? they're in mls to enhance their products-- the new stadium, RED BULL, will definitely do that! i see no reason why they would sell that marketing bonanza at this time-- the company will 'milk' the new stadium and all its hype first before thinking of selling the team and the stadium- like most rumors, this one doesn't make sense
People aren't that stupid, dude. Cosmos is a good name, and would be a good way to remember a great team. Nobody would expect Pele and Beckenbauer, or even Randy Horton. It's a great name from the past, just like Sounders, Earthquakes, Whitecaps, or Timbers. It's not a gimmick, it's history; history that should be celebrated, not eliminated.
You don't think it would be kind of anticlimactic to watch a team of Jack Jewsburys and the occasional Freddie Ljungberg-quality DP take the field under the Cosmos name? I get the feeling it would play out like a Led Zeppelin reunion tour: by the end people would be wishing they'd let bygones be bygones. I don't even think Cosmos is that great of a name, but either way, I think the nostalgia would wear off pretty quickly.