The Cosmos return – with a new home, new league and old ideals

Once the glitziest name in US soccer, the Cosmos are back in Paterson, New Jersey, with a historic stadium, a grassroots ethos and ambitions to build a real club from the ground up

(theguardian.com 7-13-25)

There’s a new New York Cosmos in town – in the town of Paterson, New Jersey, to be precise. One of the most storied names in American soccer has hit the reset button, finding a new league, a new city and a refreshed, community-first approach.

While many high-profile new teams in US sports are parachuted in at the top of their league’s hierarchy, this Cosmos revival feels different – some of that by design, some by necessity. Thursday’s announcement at the newly restored Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson offered longtime fans and curious onlookers a glimpse into this fresh direction, and the reasons behind it.

The message was clear in the location alone: nestled above the Great Falls of the Passaic River, embedded in a National Historical Park. It’s echoed in the club’s starting point – USL League One, the third and lowest tier of professional soccer in the US – a more stable launchpad from which to build organically. And perhaps most significantly, this iteration of the Cosmos finally has a home stadium to call its own – characterful, scenic, historic – something previous, more nomadic versions never had.

Two major themes run parallel through this reboot. The first is rooted in Paterson itself: a proudly local but cosmopolitan city, where the new Cosmos aim to foster grassroots involvement not just in soccer but in a wide range of activities.

The second is the name. Despite years of dormancy and false starts, the New York Cosmos remain one of the most recognisable brands in American soccer. Its association with Pelé helped cement that global profile, and further star power – Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia, Carlos Alberto – ensured it endured.

But this version wants to be more than a brand; it aims to be a club in the truest sense, something still rare in the franchise-heavy landscape of American sports. The plan includes a professional women’s team and space for other sports and community activities, from rugby and cricket to dance and chess. Like traditional sporting institutions around the world – the Clube de Regatas of Brazil or European multisport clubs – the new Cosmos will not be just a soccer team.

“This is the perfect community for it,” Cosmos CEO Erik Stover tells the Guardian. “It’s so diverse, with people from all over the world and diverse interests, so it makes perfect sense here.

“Proper clubs have multiple sports. People from the community are volunteering, helping with the cricket club, the track club, the tennis club, whatever it is.

“For us, professional soccer will be at the top of the pyramid. But what really matters is that grassroots foundation.”

The team will retain the official name New York Cosmos, but with its identity deeply rooted in Paterson, it will often be referred to simply as the Cosmos.

“The aim is community first,” says Stover. “To build sustainably, to invest in local people – whether that’s players or front office – and to grow slowly and deliberately.”

Finding a home stadium in the New York metropolitan area is no easy feat – which is why so many “New York” teams, including the Red Bulls and both NFL franchises, play across the Hudson in New Jersey. For the Cosmos, Hinchliffe isn’t just a home – it’s central to the club’s revival.

New majority owner and chairperson Baye Adofo-Wilson, a Paterson native who led the stadium’s redevelopment, spoke of creating pathways to the professional game at a time when soccer has become increasingly pay-to-play.

“More superstars are going to come out of Paterson, Passaic County, North Jersey, who will lead future generations,” he said at the unveiling. “We want people to be able to afford this. When I was growing up, a lot of these sports were free – but they no longer are.

“Often kids don’t have access. What we really want to do is make sure we have a club that’s affordable for kids, but also exciting and dynamic – reflective of the diversity of North Jersey. A lot of people are running away from diversity at this point. We’re going to run toward it.”

There may not yet be stars on the field, but there is one in the front office: Giuseppe Rossi, the former Italy international and North Jersey native, is both investing in the club and serving as Head of Soccer.

“He’s lived it,” says Stover. “If he didn’t have that Italian passport that let him go to Europe at 12 – and he was stuck in Clifton, New Jersey, dealing with pay-to-play – who knows? Maybe he doesn’t make it to Villarreal, Fiorentina, the Azzurri.

“He understands those challenges better than anyone. He can talk to kids on their level, because he’s walked the same path. He made it to the top – and he knows what it takes.”

For Cosmos fans, there’s optimism – even if the team is starting from the bottom. It may be a far cry from the glitzy NASL days of packed stadiums and marquee names, but with the USL planning a promotion and relegation system and a new Division I to run alongside MLS, there’s a realistic path for the Cosmos to climb.

“It’s not an accident the Cosmos are entering USL now,” says Stover. “Fifteen years ago, the soccer landscape in this country was very different. Now, USL is working on promotion and relegation – and where that ends up, who knows?

“But what matters is that a club like ours has a path to grow, to compete, to win championships – like we did three times in five years in NASL.

“I’ve been around the world and spoken to so many sports executives, and I think one big reason soccer in the US isn’t where it could be is that we’ve locked so many communities out of the game. We need to make it more inclusive.”

Whatever the future holds, fans were simply glad to have their team back. Even after years of inactivity, many never stopped believing. A handful were there at Thursday’s announcement, exchanging emotional glances across the room at the Charles J Muth Museum at Hinchliffe Stadium, as New Jersey governor Phil Murphy made it official.

The Cosmos are back. And while they may look different this time, their spirit remains unmistakable.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jul/13/new-york-cosmos-paterson-usl-return

New York Cosmos return to North Jersey, set for 2026 USL League One debut

(uslleagueone.com 7-29-25)

The famed New York Cosmos are returning to the field—and returning to North Jersey—in early 2026.

The Cosmos will return to competition for the 2026 season and compete in USL League One, a growing league in the third tier of the U.S. professional soccer pyramid. The Cosmos' new home will be Hinchliffe Stadium, a National Historic Landmark in Paterson, N.J. Hinchliffe Stadium once was home to Negro League baseball teams like the New York Black Yankees, the New York Cubans and the Newark Eagles. Twenty members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame played at Hinchliffe Stadium, including Paterson's own Larry Doby.

Hinchliffe Stadium was renovated, restored and reopened in 2023 as a 7,800-seat, multi-sport venue that anchors a $110 million initiative which includes senior housing, a child care facility, the Muth Museum dedicated to Negro League baseball, and a parking garage. Hinchliffe Stadium will also be home to the Cosmos' first women’s team, as well as a soccer museum dedicated to Cosmos history.

"Hinchliffe Stadium is an economic driver for the region," said Mr. Adofo-Wilson, a Paterson native who is the co-owner and developer of Hinchliffe Stadium and the new majority owner and Chairperson of the Cosmos. "Bringing the Cosmos to Hinchliffe Stadium will give us an additional anchor for Hinchliffe Stadium, the City of Paterson and North Jersey. It will also give young people in our region the opportunity to watch exciting, affordable professional sports in their backyard."

"Since acquiring the New York Cosmos in 2017, our primary goal has always been to preserve the rich history of America's most iconic soccer club," said Thomas Larsen, the Cosmos' last general manager. "It is extremely gratifying to know that new generations of fans will be able to experience the excitement of Cosmos soccer at a revitalized venue overlooking the New York City skyline and within a league structure that rewards on-the-field success through promotion and relegation."

The Cosmos last played in New Jersey from 1977 through 1984, when the likes of Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia helped draw massive crowds to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford.

"As we stand just three days away from the FIFA Club World Cup Final, a little over two weeks away from the Premier League Summer Series, and look ahead to the excitement that awaits us in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, there's no better time or place to announce the return of the New York Cosmos to Northern New Jersey," New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said at an event on July 10. "I am thankful to all of the wonderful leaders and our partners in the legislature whose support makes moments like these possible. From national championship-winning teams to global soccer events and the rebirth of storied clubs, together we are quickly transforming New Jersey into the soccer capital of the world."

Mr. Adofo-Wilson will be joined on the club's board by Vice Chairman and Head of Soccer Giuseppe Rossi, a product of nearby Clifton, N.J., who starred for Villarreal CF, ACF Fiorentina and the Italy national team before ending a long and successful playing career in 2023. Sapna Shah, a New York-based entrepreneur and angel investor whose work with Red Giraffe Advisors focuses on sports organizations with minority founders, also lends her expertise.

The club's day-to-day operations will be managed by CEO Erik Stover, an award-winning sports executive who served as the Cosmos' chief operating officer for nearly a decade (2012-21). Mr. Stover is a long-time North Jersey resident, and his professional ties to the region include stints as managing director of the New York Red Bulls (2008-11) and Assistant VP, Operations of Giants Stadium (2000-05).

The Cosmos' Paterson era will be defined by proactive commitment to the community and a mission to embody the ambition and diversity of Passaic County and North Jersey, one of the country's most cosmopolitan and talent-rich regions. Under Mr. Rossi's direction, the club intends to prioritize youth player development, while championing inclusivity and access in and around Hinchliffe Stadium and across the American soccer landscape.

"I grew up here, and I still play here. There's talent everywhere, and many of these kids have great potential but aren't getting a real chance like they would in other footballing nations," Mr. Rossi said. "One of our goals is to give those young men and women an opportunity to sign a professional contract and to develop in a first-class environment."

"In anticipation of the World Cup returning to the United States next year, we are profoundly proud to announce the arrival of the most famous American soccer club to Paterson," Paterson Mayor André Sayegh said. "The New York Cosmos once featured the greatest player of all time, Pelé, and energized Giants Stadium for years. Now, the team will have the same impact on the historic Hinchliffe Stadium."

In conjunction with next year's return to competition, the Cosmos will sport a refreshed version of the iconic blade-and-ball logo conceived in 1971 by artist Wayland Moore (with colors chosen by founding General Manager Clive Toye). Unveiled July 10, the modernized badge remains unmistakably Cosmos and was designed by Mark Jenkinson and Shawn Francis. The Cosmos' uniforms and training gear will be introduced in the months to come. They'll be produced in partnership with New York City's Capelli Sports.

North Jersey Pro Soccer has acquired the Cosmos' intellectual and physical property, history and heritage from New York Cosmos LLC, an entity controlled by Rocco B. Commisso since January 2017. New York Cosmos LLC will retain a minority ownership stake in the club.

https://www.uslleagueone.com/news_article/show/1343422

New York Cosmos stadium

From several years ago when the Cosmos thought they were going to take American soccer by storm and build a stadium at Belmont Park.

Sadly that did not happen, nor will this stadium.

North Carolina FC leaves NASL and joins USL

The North American Soccer League (NASL) released the following statement after North Carolina FC's announcement regarding its departure from the league:

The NASL confirms that North Carolina FC has withdrawn from the league. The NASL is proud to have supported professional soccer in North Carolina for five years prior to Steve Malik’s acquisition of the club at the end of the 2015 season. North Carolina FC’s departure from NASL represents the damage caused by the U.S. Soccer Federation’s decision to revoke NASL’s Division II sanctioning for the 2018 Season. The NASL remains committed to pursuing its legal claims to ensure that the future of its players, fans, and clubs remains bright. 

San Francisco soccer club folds after winning title in inaugural season

(mercurynews.com 11-15-17)

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/15/san-francisco-soccer-club-folds-after-winning-title-in-inaugural-season/

Rhinos owner: $1.3 million needed by Nov. 30 to play next season

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/soccer/2017/11/15/rochester-rhinos-2018-season-jeopardy-professional-soccer/865628001/

NY Cosmos fan artwork

Some NY Cosmos fan artwork from a couple of years ago.

Keep the faith Cross Island Crew

Interesting minor league attendance numbers

Soccer in the 70's

Old school American soccer

New York Cosmos supporters

Markets NASL Should Target That MLS Won’t – Part II: The Untapped Markets

(by Chris Kivlehan midfieldpress.com 2-16)

This article is Part II in a series covering markets that could be excellent fits for NASL that MLS is unlikely to enter.  In Part I, we discussed Big League Cities that NASL could enter.  These are markets that have a NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL team and would raise the league’s “major league” profile as it seeks to become “Division 1A” in US soccer.  Along with placing clubs in underserved sections of the top 10 metro areas in the country that also have MLS, these markets help NASL build credibility for a TV deal, which is an important source of revenue for sports leagues.

However there are plenty of great markets across the country that don’t have a team in one of the big four sports leagues, and that could be assets to NASL as it provides the only “big league” show in town when the quality of play and star power in the league progresses.  The Untapped Markets are either markets similar in size to the big league cities or promising metro areas that the traditional big sports leagues have neglected.

As in Part I, when we look at each city or region, we will try to find the ingredients of a successful NASL team in them.  These essential pieces are market size, competition, potential investors, soccer support and a suitable place for the team to play.  We will also look at any relevant history or news related to the market that could provide some color its suitability for NASL.  Due to the nature of these being lower profile markets than the big league cities covered previously, the puzzle pieces are a little more difficult to fit together.

http://midfieldpress.com/2016/02/16/markets-nasl-should-target-that-mls-wont-part-ii-the-untapped-markets/

Detroit City FC

Markets NASL Should Target That MLS Won’t – Part I: The Big League Cities

Soccer in America is a growth industry.  Major League Soccer, the North American Soccer League and the United Soccer League are all expanding.  Even the fourth tier NPSL and PDL are adding teams each year. The American soccer landscape has transformed in the past decade.

As MLS nears what is likely an upper limit of 28-32 teams, plenty of strong markets across the country will be left without top level soccer even as the sport’s popularity is still trending upwards.  This presents an opportunity for the North American Soccer League.  Today NASL is clearly second division.  MLS has better stadiums, richer owners, bigger payrolls, more lucrative marketing alliances, a higher profile media presence and stronger attendance.  Since its inception, NASL has steadily improved its ownership group, product on the field and marketing agreements.  It still has a long way to go, but NASL aims to grow into an equal with the 15 years older MLS over time.

As MLS picks its final 4-8 markets, it will prioritize those cities that will maximize revenue for the single entity league.  Whereas once upon a time, in a smaller MLS, Rochester might have been courted and Salt Lake City might have landed a team, it is a different era.  The final 4-8 markets will likely be 4-8 of the biggest markets left on the table.  Sacramento and San Antonio are all but in.  St. Louis is openly coveted.  San Diego, Detroit and Phoenix are among the biggest markets remaining, and any successful NASL or USL team with financial backing operating in them over the next few years will be snatched up by MLS as Minnesota United was.

 

(more to come)

 

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http://midfieldpress.com/2016/02/14/markets-nasl-should-target-that-mls-wont-part-i-the-big-league-cities/

Inside the "off-the-charts exciting" rise of FC Cincinnati

(by Andrew King mlssoccer.com 5-13-16)

On Saturday, leaders of a Cincinnati pro sports franchise are hoping to draw 25,000 fans to their stadium for an afternoon matinee.

But it won't be to watch Major League Baseball’s Cincinnati Reds, who play later that night. Instead, hordes of fans are expected to make their way to the University of Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium, where FC Cincinnati of the United Soccer League play just their fourth home game in franchise history.

And while 25,000 fans would eclipse Cincinnati’s own regular-season USL record – they sold 20,497 tickets for their second home game – the club’s sights are set even higher than fitting a few thousand more people into their building.

When the ownership group led by CEO Carl Lindner III announced that FC Cincinnati would be joining the USL for the 2016 season, they seemed armed with all the tools to succeed.

Lindner is a co-CEO at American Financial Group, while his father – Carl Lindner Jr. – was a part owner of the Reds and has appeared on Forbes magazine’s list of the world's richest people.
Jeff Berding was named president and general manager, and brought 19 years of experience, including stints with the Cincinnati Bengals and as a member of the Cincinnati City Council.

The club hired former US national team and MLS midfielder John Harkes to his first head coaching job and gave him the freedom to build a team that would play attractive soccer in the midst of a market that contains 50,000 youth soccer players.

That core of experience influenced the club from day one.

“Everything we do, I think about, ‘How would we want to do it with the Bengals?’” Berding said. “John thinks about, ‘How would we do it with D.C. United or with the men’s national team?’”
But FC Cincinnati were fighting history.

Teams have been failing in the city since the Cincinnati Comets played in the American Soccer League in 1972. The Comets folded in 1975 and the Cincinnati Kids, partially owned by baseball legend Pete Rose, lasted just two years in the Major Indoor Soccer League.

After 13 years, the Cincinnati Cheetahs of the United States Interregional Soccer League managed to last four seasons and were followed by the Cincinnati Silverbacks, Riverhawks, Excite, Kings, 1790 Cincinnati Express, the Saints and the Dutch Lions.

Prospective fans were aware of those failures and at first, it affected excitement.

“There have been a lot of teams to go through here over the years,” said fan and University of Cincinnati graduate Jared Handra. “A lot of great owners have tried to bring soccer here and haven’t been able to make it work. So at first, we were all like, ‘Well, here comes another one. Let’s see if it sticks.’”

Lindner says he knew it would “stick” all along, provided the ownership group and team leadership could capitalize on a Cincinnati market that Berding says has “tremendous upside.”

“I’ve kind of been keeping my eye on professional soccer for a while,” Lindner said. “With the great sports town that Cincinnati is and the loyal fanbase that exists here for other sports, I think there’s been a great, pent-up demand by all those youths over the last 30 years to have someone to root for and get behind and have fun with.”

So Berding plunged forward in Cincinnati, bringing the decision-making from the NFL’s Bengals into the soccer world and using his knowledge of the Cincinnati market.

“In Cincinnati, if you think about everyone’s favorite sports teams, they have certain things in common,” he said. “All their games are on radio and TV, so all our games are on radio and TV … We have a stadium that people would associate with big-time sports … All of that was critical for the market to appreciate that we’re doing this at a high level.”

And the market noticed.

Before their first match, the club had sold more than 4,000 season tickets. By kickoff of their first-ever home game on April 9, 14,600 people had showed up to watch the match. By that point, Handra had become one of the leaders of Die Innenstadt, a supporters group with German flair.

The club, he said, was inescapable within the city.

“They’re just there,” Handra said. “You see it everywhere. I don’t know if it comes down to marketing or the brand. But you just see it everywhere. You can’t get away from it, and that’s something that’s never really been done here, I don’t think.”

In their first three matches, the club is averaging about 15,000 fans, and team leadership admitted FC Cincinnati’s debut season has been better than they could have imagined.

“We’re having a higher level of success sooner than we anticipated,” Berding said. “We were certainly confident that the soccer market in Cincinnati is strong, but we wouldn’t have predicted averaging 15,000 people through three home games. The Cincinnati area has responded in a tremendous manner.”

Even the players can’t believe what has transpired in the stands beyond the pitch.

Omar Cummings signed with the club in the offseason, one of several MLS veterans to do so, and was recovering from injury when the season began.

“Being in the stands, actually watching the game and seeing the fans, I got more of a fan perspective,” he said. “It was great. It was phenomenal.”

Cummings, who was an all-Big East forward with the University of Cincinnati, said he’s been surprised by the entire situation. When he watched from the stands as the franchise scored its first goal at home, he said it was his favorite moment so far.

“The stadium just erupted,” he said. “To feel that energy, to feel that roar, everyone had a blast.”
Despite dominating USL headlines and attendance numbers, FC Cincinnati leaders aren’t counting their achievements. Their sights have been set high since the franchise formed.

Berding says he believes the team’s early success is sustainable. To facilitate that, the team has increased in-stadium vendors by 50 percent, ordered more merchandise for game-day sales, opened every concession stand in Nippert and is furiously hiring ticket sales representatives to handle demand.

They even need more Verizon hotspots to connect all the credit card transactions happening within the stadium.

“We have problems, but they’re good problems to have,” he said.

But since the very beginning of the franchise, Berding and ownership have made it clear that they’ve got MLS aspirations on their minds. While the club is less MLS-focused in the midst of the current season and is “thrilled” to be in the USL, acknowledging those aspirations was an important message to potential fans and those interested in the franchise.

“When we launched in August, the greater Cincinnati market – the bus community, the news writers, the fans, the civic leaders – they wouldn’t have a whole lot of familiarity with the USL, but I think most people generally know about MLS,” Berding said. “We felt it was important to put it out there that the USL is an aspirational league, and Cincinnati views ourselves as a big league town … We had to let people know that long-term, we would have the goal to be like an Orlando City and have an opportunity to be promoted. People had to understand where we fit and what our goals were.”

Berding believes in installing a professional atmosphere from top to bottom.

That mentality made Harkes’ appointment crucial. Berding says he believes in order to capitalize on the Cincinnati market – its massive group of youth soccer players in particular – he’ll need to give them an enjoyable product.

“We certainly hired a coach that has maybe an unrivaled network in US soccer and parts of Europe,” Berding said. “When we hired [Harkes], we felt he would be a very effective recruiter, very successful at identifying talented players to play an entertaining brand of soccer. We wanted to be a pressing team. We wanted to be a team that plays possession with a purpose and is scoring a lot of goals.”

Cummings said the team has the ambition to be “one of the top teams” in USL in just its first season. And while it’s early, FC Cincinnati is just three points off the best record in the league, despite playing only eight competitive games together.

“This club has been trying to do things right,” Cummings said. “It’s as professional as I’ve seen. They’re not going to get everything right from the get-go, especially being a new club. But I’ve been impressed with everything they’re doing so far … If they’re not getting stuff right and players say, ‘I think we could do things better,’ they try to improve upon it.”

Despite acknowledging those aspirations, FC Cincinnati is taking the moment to enjoy the success that’s surprised even their leaders.

And while plans for an academy system are on the horizon and a 15-year lease at Nippert Stadium might cast doubts on short-term MLS viability, no one can rain on FC Cincinnati’s parade.

“It’s off-the-charts exciting for me and my whole family and all of our partners,” Lindner said. “We’re having a heck of a lot of fun and I think in life, that’s as important as business success. It’s about passion and enjoying what you’re doing.

“How fun is it to bring something from the ground up and see it flourish?”

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http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016/05/13/another-orlando-inside-charts-exciting-rise-fc-cincinnati

Why MLS’s Expansion to 28 (or 32) Teams is Good for NASL

(by Chris Kivlehan midfieldpress.com 1-17-16)

Major League Soccer has announced its intent to expand to 28 teams, and while it may seem counterintuitive, I believe this is actually a good thing for the North American Soccer League. Further, it is a good bet that MLS isn’t stopping at 28, but rather 32 seems like a more likely number. MLS shares many owners with the NFL, and more than any other league, MLS looks up to the NFL.

The NFL has 32 teams and its owners seem quite content with that number.  The NFL could easily support more than 32 teams; cities like Columbus, Salt Lake City, Portland, Orlando and Oklahoma City are as NFL caliber as Buffalo, Jacksonville, Kansas City and New Orleans.  That’s before looking North to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver or overseas to London or Frankfurt.  So why doesn’t the NFL have 40 teams?  It’s about maximizing revenue and value of the franchises.  The scarcity of NFL teams drives the value up.  

The illusion of scarcity is why MLS, with 24 franchises awarded to date, is only saying they are going to 28 teams right now, rather than coming out and saying that 32 is the end game limit.  If there are four expansion spots left, and two of them are practically spoken for by Sacramento and San Antonio, that artificially drives up the value of the “last two” spots because there is more demand than supply.  If there were six spots readily available, they would be worth less than just two.  MLS will likely stop expanding once their owners, who again overlap in many cases with the NFL, decide they have hit a number that maximizes league revenue per owner and franchise value.   The NFL has identified 32 teams as the sweet spot for revenue and franchise value maximization.  MLS may determine the right number for their league is less than 32, but they are unlikely to decide it is more than 32 teams.

A 28-32 team cap for MLS is a boon for NASL.  There are 70 markets in the USA that could support a first division soccer team.  The top 10 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs)  could likely support several teams, as they do in Europe only to a lesser extent here since the market for the game is less developed.  NASL can likely put teams in different parts of the 10 largest MSAs, and be the most relevant team within a comfortable drive of the area they serve.  

For example, MLS is moving into downtown Atlanta.  The city’s northern suburbs are populated and wealthy, and traffic in Atlanta is notoriously bad.  The MLB’s Atlanta Braves are moving to Cobb County north of Atlanta because of a sweetheart stadium deal and the fact that is an attractive part of the market to be in.  An NASL team could thrive in Cobb County near the Braves, while Atlanta United FC flourishes in its downtown stadium shared with the NFL Falcons.  The recent failure of the Silverbacks in that market is a result of not having the right owners in place with financial strength and determination to field a strong alternative to MLS.  Challenging in an MLS market requires a strong backing with a good strategy to carve out their own niche.

Not all markets offer this opportunity, however.   The top 10 markets, and perhaps Seattle-Tacoma, would be interesting bets as MLS-having locations NASL could compete in.  The good news is as MLS selects its final 8 markets, there are plenty of excellent metropolitan areas that will be left over NASL.

Where will MLS go?

Teams 21-24 are set with Atlanta United FC due in 2017, Minnesota United FC moving from NASL to MLS in either 2017 or 2018, LAFC debuting in 2018 and Miami Beckham United finally nailing down their stadium site.

25 and 26 appear to be locked up as well. Sacramento ticks all of MLS’s boxes like no expansion bid before, and the San Antonio Spurs acquisition of Toyota Field and launch of a USL franchise has been done with an open wink and nod from MLS.

So there are 2 more open spots “available” for MLS, and likely a hard maximum of 4 additional berths beyond that.  This is good for NASL.  It is not as good for USL.

It is good because it will attract more qualified investors in soccer across the country – more than can possibly join MLS.  These prospective owners will have three options:  invest in something other than US pro soccer, invest in a developmental league in USL or invest in an aspiring alternate major league in NASL.

MLS commissioner Don Garber says they are talking to groups in St. Louis and San Diego, which would position the league to fill gaps left in those towns by potentially departing NFL teams.  He has tossed out Detroit and El Paso in similar conversations before. Long ago, MLS coveted Cleveland and Rochester as well. The billionaire owner of FC Cincinnati probably isn’t investing in USL to stay there.  The Charlotte Independence owners have signaled their intent for MLS. Arizona United hired Frank Yallop as part of a plan to drive to MLS. Louisville is talking about a stadium plan to land MLS. MLS rejected investors from Las Vegas.

So let’s say MLS goes to 32 teams and they are:  25. Sacramento, 26. San Antonio, 27. St. Louis, 28. San Diego, 29. Cincinnati, 30. Phoenix, 31. Charlotte 32. Detroit.

Those are eight of the biggest MSAs left on the table, so that’s a pretty significant list of open markets lost.  One region I am leaving off the MLS list is Tampa Bay.  Certainly Tampa Bay is larger than some of the other metro areas on the list and expanding to Tampa Bay strike a blow to NASL.  I left it off because the current owner, Bill Edwards, is unlikely to want to give over the control necessary to join MLS, there is a nearby MLS franchise in Orlando, and failure of the Tampa Bay Mutiny once before. However even if we replace Charlotte on the above list with Tampa Bay, and NASL loses the Rowdies with all the history and tradition they represent, the overall trend would still be favorable.

Why MLS maxing out is good for NASL

Because it means MLS is done growing, which means if you are an ambitious independent USL team owner, what are you investing for? You either need to suck it up and make peace with being minor league playing MLS reserve teams, you close up shop or you move to a more ambitious league of fellow independent teams aspiring to be first division.  This conundrum almost certainly awaits Louisville, which is too small of a market to attract one of MLS’s final spots.  I would expect a defection of spurned independent USL owners who are locked out of MLS when it stops growing at 32 teams. Tulsa, Charlotte, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Austin are all markets with more potential than what that USL would be able to harness and would be ripe for NASL to poach.

Beyond the present USL towns, where does a maxed-out MLS leave great markets like Nashville, Memphis, Buffalo, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Baltimore, New Orleans and Milwaukee?  Locked out of MLS forever, or waiting patiently until an MLS franchise falters enough to be relocated.  Those are all strong potential MSAs for NASL to move into.  Beyond that there are solid markets like Chattanooga, El Paso, Hartford and Birmingham, which MLS would never touch.

MLS going to 28 or 32 teams may mean NASL loses another franchise or two along the way, but it has so much more to gain by capitalizing on the demand generated by the prospect of MLS expansion along with the impact dwindling odds the USL independents have for moving up, as the game of soccer grows in popularity across the country.

If MLS goes to 32 teams, what could NASL grow into?

In a scenario where MLS stops at 32 teams, NASL could look every bit as major a league in terms of the markets it supports by putting teams in the top 10 MSA/TV markets as well as in top 11-50 markets passed over by MLS.

If you positioned NASL teams with the right investor backing into different sections of the top 10 MSA markets with MLS, you could put teams in Orange County, East LA, Ventura County, the Inland Empire or the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles; in the city or northern suburbs in Chicago; in Arlington or Fort Worth in the Dallas MSA; in the Sugar Land area of the Houston MSA; in the city or northern suburbs of Philadelphia; in northern Virginia or southern Maryland in the DC area; in the city or northern suburbs of Boston.  This would be in addition to the Atlanta example above, as well as the existing New York Cosmos, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and Miami FC.  Reports have a Peter Wilt-led revival of the Chicago Sting potentially following the city/northern suburb path mentioned above, as well as the Bay Area Professional Soccer group looking to land a team in San Francisco or the eastern Bay Area.  While it might not be necessary to have teams in all of these markets, it would be helpful in getting NASL a good TV contract one day.

Add to those teams in Baltimore, Cleveland, Buffalo, Nashville, Memphis, Las Vegas, Hartford, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Austin, Providence, New Orleans, Virginia Beach, and more.  Not only are there enough markets to support an alternate first division of American soccer, but you have enough available markets to support a multi-tier pyramid structure with promotion and relegation, should NASL want to introduce the much in-demand system to differentiate the product it offers in the marketplace from MLS.

Available markets are not the problem, not by a long shot.  Qualified and motivated investors are the scarce resource for NASL right now.  There are sure to be many groups who fail in their bid for a MLS team, whether they are independent USL clubs or investment groups that don’t presently operate a club.  When the MLS musical chairs game is over, NASL will look more appealing to those left standing who don’t want to damn themselves to a minor league existence forever, and who are willing to make an investment in a league that has big time ambitions.  As new investors emerge after MLS is maxed out, their choice will be between NASL and a USL that offers no growth beyond minor league purgatory.

NASL is like any challenger entrant into a business market with an established leader. It needs to find a different angle in the market to be successful and appeal to an audience that is not served by the leader. That niche can be its base of strength and it can grow from there.   Just as Coke and Pepsi co-exist as successful soft drinks while there are plenty of alternative beverages (sports) available to the consumer, so too can MLS, NASL and USL each find their own path to success without requiring the failure of the other.  For MLS, that success is to be the best American style sports league in US soccer.  For USL, that is to be the best minor league supporting MLS.  For NASL, that path is to be the best traditional soccer league in North America.

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http://midfieldpress.com/2016/01/17/why-mlss-expansion-to-28-or-32-teams-is-good-for-nasl-2/

NASL loses two teams ... but gains Paolo Maldini and Carmelo Anthony

(by Jack Williams theguardian.com 2-10-16)

The 2016 season will see a number of changes in the makeup of American soccer’s second-tier, the North American Soccer League. Over the coming months, two new franchises will be introduced, before a third is added in the fall section of a two-part season. The off-season, though, has also seen two teams jump ship, with another of its franchises, Minnesota United, set to move to Major League Soccer, in 2018.

First, the departees.

The first team to opt out were the San Antonio Scorpions, who, in December, announced the sale of their stadium, Toyota Field, as well as its accompanying soccer complex. In a business model that was unique in American sports, the Scorpions’ owner, Gordon Hartman, gave profits from the club's operations to a special needs theme park inspired by his daughter, Morgan. The sale of the facilities funded his cause – as did a reported $3m donation from Spurs Sports and Entertainment. But led by Spurs Sports and Entertainment’s MLS intentions, it was announced that the group would be leasing the facilities to join the MLS-affiliated United Soccer League, America’s third-tier, rather than keep a team in the NASL.

“Where we need to get to as a league – and we are pretty close – is where owners may come and go, but clubs stay,” Bill Peterson, the commissioner of the NASL, told the Guardian. “And that’s what this country needs. You’re the steward of a team, you are not the owner of a team. That’s where the sport comes from.”

The Atlanta Silverbacks, who had been with the league since its inaugural season in 2011, would leave for entirely different reasons, but also left a supporters group void of professional soccer. Last season the team were operated by the league while it searched for an ownership group committed to the Silverbacks’ long-term future. With no ownership group meeting the league’s standards – and potential investors perhaps being deterred by the city’s new MLS franchise, which has already surpassed 20,000 season ticket subscriptions for the 2018 season – it was announced last month that the team had suspended operations. Despite this setback, the NASL has said that it still sees Atlanta as a market for the league.

“We are not going to leave a city we are in currently and close the door completely, because all of the cities we are in, we believe in them and we believe we can be successful,” Peterson said. “As far as owners’ aspiring to be in the top division: all of our owners, I think, aspire to be in the top division. When you get up in the morning, I don’t know anyone in sports that wakes up and says I want to be second best today; you want to be the first on the field, off the field; you always are striving to do the best you can do in what we do.”

When it comes to the newcomers, perhaps the most noticeable aspect about all three is the variety of backgrounds each of the ownership groups has. Miami FC, for example, entering that market ahead of David Beckham's planned MLS franchise, is a team owned by entrepreneur Riccardo Silva and retired Italian international Paolo Maldini. Having a name like Maldini associated with the league is seen as a major coup, Peterson said. And Maldini has also installed another well-known Italian defender in Alessandro Nesta, who will coach the side when it enters the league in April.

There’s a rather European feel about Oklahoma’s new franchise, too – helped partly by the its name, which is a moniker that La Liga fans will certainly recognize. Rayo OKC’s ownership group is made up of Oklahoma native Sean Jones and majority stakeholder Raul Presa, the owner of Rayo Vallecano of Spain. The NASL has been interested in the Oklahoma market for a number of years. But after a potential investor pulled out to help fund a ULS franchise, the Oklahoma Energy, those who remained committed to the NASL were left to searching for alternatives. Having reached the agreement with Rayo’s owners - whose intentions seem geared towards brand-building rather than player development, given that no Rayo players have moved stateside just yet - the club is hurriedly putting together a roster capable of competing come the spring.

Unlike Miami and Oklahoma, there will be no rush on the roster front for the league’s final new franchise, Puerto Rico FC, as it is set to join the NASL in the fall of 2016. Puerto Rico will be representing a market that was previously occupied by the NASL - only for its team, the Puerto Rico Islanders, to suspend operations after two seasons, in 2012, due to low attendance numbers and a lack of adequate funding. It is hoped that that the island’s new team will be able to build momentum off the back of its high profile owner, Carmelo Anthony. The New York Knicks star is an avid soccer fan. Having used his foundation to successfully refurbish basketball courts on the island, he announced in June that he hopes to restore soccer’s infrastructure on the island, too. The league hopes Anthony’s team will give them a foothold in the Caribbean and other North American regions.

“For a league that’s now starting its sixth year, to have people like Maldini, and Rayo, and Nesta, and Carmelo Anthony involved in a league that is this young, we’re not learning through trial and error,” Peterson said. “We have people on board as owners – and coaches, in relation to Nesta – who have been at the highest levels of the game. They understand how to structure a club, top to bottom, on the field and off the field. And what that’s going to allow us to do is ramp up much quicker than maybe if we had a league of people who were still trying to figure out the sport.”

Moving forward, Peterson said, the league intends to remain tight-lipped about the markets it is looking into. The goal is for the 12-team NASL to eventually become a 20-team league. Over the past few seasons, the NASL has frozen its entrance fees at a figure in the “single digit millions” as a way to entice investors away from $100m-plus reported figures of MLS expansion fees. Peterson would admit that interest in the league has been “organic out west”; growing in the midwest; and that “there’s always interest in the east.” In the near future he hopes to announce at least one west coast team - “we may be putting two or three there” - and when they are left with a final three or four slots to fill, the conversation will move from “what market is there interest from?” to “what markets are we still interested in?”

“We have kept the price the same for a long time, very simply because our owners aren’t looking for money from new people coming in; they want them to invest money in their clubs,” Peterson said. “There are owners who understand what this takes. They’ve got a long view on it, and they’re not greedy. It’s about where we end up in five, 10, 15 years - not where we are today.”

Finally, when asked about where such changes in participating franchises leaves the league’s reputation - particularly seeing another team leaving for the MLS, and some, as in San Antonio, preferring a MLS-associated league - Peterson said that the league is only focused on continuing to grow attendance, quality of play and the number of teams. Rivalries with other leagues are healthy, he added. And despite the talk last season of promotion and relegation being on the agenda - a concept Peterson supports - the NASL has made no contact with other leagues – it is something they would look into internally and much further into the future. Peterson admits that having such a closed system is one of the key factors why the six-year-old league has seen so many movements this season.

“It’s America, so there’s freedom of choice; people can do what they want to do.” Peterson said. “The movement has always been expected. A lot of it can be chopped up to the fact that it’s a closed system, so teams can’t move up or move down, depending on the situation they are in with their ownership or performance on the field. So you put the teams in a bind by not having options on the go forward, and that’s caused some of the issue that we have, and it’s also something that’s been common with every league that’s ever started up in this country.”

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http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/10/nasl-loses-two-teams-but-gains-paolo-maldini-and-carmelo-anthony

NASL bids to overcome obstacles

http://www.virginiacavalry.com/nasl-bids/

(virginiacalvary.com 12-2-13)

There are two elephants in the room. Two obstacles that the recently resuscitated North American Soccer League has to maneuver around without ignoring, angering or otherwise irking them. The first is Major League Soccer, comfortably the most successful professional soccer league in the history of the United States and Canada. The other is the NASL itself. The previous incarnation of it, that is, which folded amid financial ruin in 1984, only to be re-launched in 2011.

Three years in, things are going pretty well for the upstart league. It claims attendance was up some 30 percent this year, to somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 per game. The New York Cosmos made their long-anticipated return in the fall season, which they won comfortably before lifting the Soccer Bowl, adding gravitas and attention.

And so the NASL has expansion on its mind, after two seasons in which it lost and gained a team. Next year, it will grow from eight to 11, one of whom, Indy Eleven, has already sold out the 7,000 season tickets on offer. But here’s where the ghost of the old NASL haunts the new. Some three decades ago, it had expanded far too quickly, bringing in shaky ownerships and uninterested markets. When attendance fell off, the bubble burst.

“Everyone remembers what happened and everyone watched other leagues in soccer and other sports fumble this one,” NASL commissioner Bill Peterson tells FOX Soccer. “The policy is to take it slow and steady and at the end of the day make sure we have the right owners in the right cities that will ensure long-term growth. We’re optimistic, but also being cautious and trying not to overlook things or make mistakes.”

Peterson explains that new ownerships are carefully vetted. “The advantage we have is that we’re decentralized and our owners come on board realizing that they’re responsible for all aspects of the club,” he says. Yet the league will add another two to four teams in 2015, meaning it could potentially have almost doubled from eight to 15 in just two years. The trick, then, is to grow quickly enough to develop a critical mass, but not so quick that the whole thing overheats and fizzles out.

Now, to that other elephant: MLS. The NASL was sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation as the second division in professional soccer, even if no promotion, relegation or cross-over of any other kind exists. Yet the league’s ambitions are hardly befitting of a lower tier. “We have no interest in being a minor league system,” says Peterson. “Our goal in life is to create an exciting and competitive soccer league that is based on winning. I don’t think they’re sitting around in Indianapolis going, ‘Let’s see who NASL can develop for another league.’ They want their own team.”

The designation isn’t problematic just yet. “Nothing about that sanction limits our ability to do what we want to do,” says Peterson. “If we accomplish all of our goals, there will be a time to discuss that and if we don’t, we’ll have the most successful second division league ever.”

Ultimately, the NASL believes there are enough serious soccer fans in this country to support two professional leagues, even if both eventually grow to two dozen or so teams – MLS, now at 19, plans to go to 24 by 2020.

In that equation, the NASL has positioned itself as the anti-MLS, with its steep, high-eight figure expansion fees, byzantine regulations, complex roster limitations, salary caps and allocation funds. Entry for new owners is cheap and the business model simple and modest, meaning the league isn’t dependent on income from expansion fees and national broadcast deals, which are low and non-existent, respectively.

“We’re building this league on the premise that you can run it and break even with your sponsorship, ticket sales and your local broadcasts,” says Peterson. “If you achieve that; and we’re on path to do that — we have teams that are beyond break-even, we have others that are very close — then you don’t need to do those deals and therefore we’re free to be patient and do the deals that make the most sense for us. At some point, obviously, we’d like to prove that we’re worth those types of deals but we don’t have to for existence.”

The idea is for every club to be largely unregulated and entirely self-sustaining, rather than being subservient to the larger entity. That’s antithetical to the MLS model, but nevertheless the way things are done the world over. And Peterson believes it gives the NASL the best chance of survival. “Soccer is a global game,” he says. “And those guys [MLS] have been successful in building a domestic league. But we look at the sport differently. It’s a global market place, there’s a global soccer economy. In order to enter into that economy, you have to look and feel like that economy.

Still, Peterson is coy when asked if he sees MLS as a rival business. “We’re not competing with MLS,” he says. “We’re competing with ourselves to be competitive and to be relevant to as many fans as we possibly we can be. What they do doesn’t really affect what we do and vice versa. It’s not a competition.”

This argument largely holds up. NASL has moved into different markets than MLS has. Until last fall anyway, when the Cosmos landed in New York, where the league’s most ambitious club unabashedly operates in direct competition with the New Jersey-based, 18-year-old New York Red Bulls.

But that’s not quite how the NASL sees it. “Well, we were there first, weren’t we?” says Peterson. “Maybe they are competing with us for New York. Because we put a team in New York; they had one in New Jersey. And now they’re going to put one [New York City FC] in New York [in 2015].”

There, Peterson concedes, the supposed second division club rides in open rebellion against the so-called first division. “It’s healthy competition,” he says. “We’re not afraid to compete. We’d love to compete with them on the field, we’d love to compete with them for hearts and minds, and New York City is the type of market and a large enough market where that could happen. I do believe that healthy competition will bring more attention and attract more people to U.S. based professional soccer. We’re based on competition. We want to compete.”

If both leagues continue to be successful, continue to grow, that competition will play out in more markets than one, at increasingly higher stakes.

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