MLS commissioner eyes possible New York franchise for 2013 Second Big Apple club could be the league's 20th MLS commissioner Don Garber said Friday that the league has no intentions of slowing down following a 2012 expansion to Montreal, and that a second New York franchise could be in line for 2013. Garber told the Associated Press that the league has aspirations of soon fielding a 20th franchise to follow Montreal, which was officially announced on Friday as the league’s third Canadian club and 19th franchise overall. "Our attention is very focused on a 20th team as we speak. We'd like that team to be in New York City representing a second team in the tri-state area," Garber told the AP. "The Red Bulls are very supportive of that and believe that rivalry will help grow the popularity of the sport in the New York metropolitan area. So we're going to work hard and try to get something done perhaps as early as 2013." http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/mls-commissioner-eyes-possible-new-york-franchise-2013
Re: MLS Expansion 2013 The Borough's Boys Supporters Club want the 2nd team to be the reincarnation of the NY Cosmos http://www.boroughboysnyc.com/
Re: MLS Expansion 2013 I'm all for it...just waiting for an owner. An MLS team that is actually in NYC would be huge for the league. They just need to find a place that is in New York City to play.
Return of the Cosmos Any sort of return would be a ways off, but the New York Cosmos name, logo, and history were recently sold to a group of investors who intend to return the Cosmos to where they once were atop the American club soccer pyramid. The new investment group is led by Englishman Paul Kemsley, who is a developer and business associate of Daniel Levy. Levy is the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur and Kemsley was the Vice Chairman, until he left the club in August of 2007. The rights to the Cosmos were held for years by Peppe Pinton, who refused to sell them to numerous suitors since the team folded during the 1984-85 MISL season. Pinton previously refused to sell the rights to the ownership group of the NY MetroStars (who later sold the team to Red Bull) stating that MLS was not ready for the history and legacy of the Cosmos. However, with former NASL legacies in MLS including San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders FC, and the soon to be welcomed Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps, Pinton was more willing to sell. According to this NY Times article, Pinton sees Kemsley as "a man with the vision of Steve Ross to carry the Cosmos name." Ross was the chairman of Warner Communications which owned the original Cosmos. The goal for the franchise is to start playing soon and become the 20th team in MLS. Portland and Vancouver are joining as the 17th and 18th franchises, while Montreal will be the 19th when they join in 2012. Pele will serve as honorary President and hopes to see the Cosmos playing Red Bull in the MLS Final someday. The Red Bulls would welcome the Cosmos as they don't view New York City as being their market due to the location of Red Bull Arena being in suburban New Jersey. They would hope that the Cosmos would create a very lucrative rivalry for the two franchises. As for the Cosmos, they would hope to be located within New York City and the area around Citi Field, home of the Mets in Queens, has been rumored in the past to be a location with investment by Mets owner, Fred Wilpon. Wilpon's interest seems to have lost some steam however, due to his investments with Bernie Madoff. There's also some talk of a facility being built in the complex that will house the Jets' new stadium, that is not yet built.
Re: MLS Expansion 2013 New group acquires Cosmos, hopes to be part of MLS NEW YORK (AP) -- A new group has acquired the name of the old Cosmos soccer team of the North American Soccer League and made Pele its honorary president. The Cosmos said Sunday they have acquired the Copa NYC tournament and said their goal is to re-establish the team as "a part of Major League Soccer." Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/soccer/08/01/cosmos.ap/index.html#ixzz0vUdebiQo
Re: MLS Expansion 2013 And there won't be because its not an American sport concept and, as you may have noticed, MLS is in USA and Canada. I'm just glad that Don Garber is slowly inching towards a single table.
Re: MLS Expansion 2013 BW Gottschee NYC partners with NY Cosmos to form Cosmos Academy East http://www.bwgottschee.org/
Re: MLS Expansion 2013 MLS intrigued by expansion push from NY Cosmos League interested in hearing more about group's plans NEW YORK – The ambitions of the group behind the relaunch of the New York Cosmos soccer club are not just rhetoric. On Sunday the executives at the helm of the project outlined details of their step-by-step plan and unveiled their end goal of having the Cosmos become an expansion club in Major League Soccer. The league on Monday acknowledged that there have been conversations. “We remain focused on securing a 20th team for Major League Soccer in New York,” said MLS President Mark Abbott on Monday. “We have met with the group that owns the rights to the Cosmos name and look forward to learning more about their plans.” Those plans begin at the youth level, with the formation of the Cosmos Academy in partnership with Queens-based youth club BW Gottschee. The youth side will participate in the US Soccer Development Academy. The Cosmos have even kicked off a grassroots initiative by acquiring the rights to locally run Copa NYC tournament. The chairman of the new Cosmos is former Tottenham Hotspur executive Paul Kemsley and the honorary president is none other than former Cosmos legend, Pelé. “Our plan has several phases, but if you fast-forward, it’s our aspiration to play at the highest level in this country and that’s MLS,” executive director Joe Fraga told The New York Times. “And we are serious.” http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/mls-intrigued-expansion-push-ny-cosmos
Re: MLS Expansion 2013 David Beckham Has Key Link to New York Cosmos MLS Bid The principals behind the Cosmos are English. Chairman Paul Kemsley is an investment banker and former director at Tottenham who engineered the purchase of the Cosmos name and logo from G. Peppe Pinton, the former general manager of the NASL incarnation. CEO Carl Johnson runs a marketing and advertising company with offices in London and on Broadway. Cosmos director of soccer Terry Byrne held back-room positions with both Chelsea and the England national team in the 1990s. -- Byrne is one of David Beckham's best friends and played a key role in Beckham's move to the Galaxy and several key decisions once the famous midfielder arrived, such as the hiring of Ruud Gullit as coach and the inheritance of the captaincy from Landon Donovan. In his book "The Beckham Experiment," Grant Wahl described Byrne as Beckham's "personal manager" and "the unidentified figure who was almost always in Beckham's immediate orbit." Beckham apparently arranged for Byrne to work for the Galaxy as a "paid consultant." Byrne's actual high-level pro soccer experience has been limited to roles as a physical therapist and equipment manager. -- Beckham's contract with the Galaxy, which will pay him $6.5 million this season, expires at the end of 2011. The deal includes a provision allowing Beckham to be an investor/owner in an MLS franchise once he's done playing. "I still want to be involved. I want to be an ambassador of the league," he said last year. "There's a deal in place where I can purchase an MLS team or start a franchise. It's something I am definitely interested in, or I wouldn't have it in my contract." http://soccer.fanhouse.com/2010/08/03/david-beckham-has-key-link-to-new-york-cosmos-mls-bid/
Re: Return of the Cosmos Some more Cosmos stuff. They don't have a professional team yet at any level, but have gone about establishing the Cosmos Academies. CA East is in New York and CA West is in California in a partnership with Los Angeles Football Club. Cosmos Academy East is in partnership with BW Gottschee, a long established academy program in New York. LAFC had an association with Chelsea for a few years. Giovanni Savarese will serve as the director of the West Academy, while Ted Chronopoulos will be director of the East Academy. Chronopoulos is an American midfielder/defender who retired after a long career in 2005. Chronopoulos left the States after college to play for Panionios for three seasons before returning to the States for the inaugural season of MLS in 1996. Chronopoulos made 144 appearances for the Revolution in seven seasons before being dealt to the MetroStars. He was waived after one season and went to the USL's Charleston Battery, where he would become an Assistant Manager for a season before moving on to player development. He had one cap for the US, playing 15 minutes in a friendly against Israel. Savarese is a Venezuelan-Italian forward who moved to the States when he was 20 to attend college at Long Island University. Savarese was with the MetroStars for the inaugural season of MLS and scored 41 goals in 85 appearances for the Metros over three years. In 1999, he became a teammate of Chronopoulos with the Revolution and scored 10 goals on the year. Savarese played in England for a couple of loan stints with Millwall and Swansea as well as stops in Italy and Venezuela. Savarese also had 23 caps and 4 goals for Venezuela. He has prior youth development experience with the Metros/Red Bulls.
Re: Return of the Cosmos And while I'm at it, I just came across Chronopoulos' resume on the Cosmos website. Turns out he's been working with youth sides at academy or school levels since he started as a professional at Panionios.
Re: MLS Expansion 2013 The LAFC Board and its Directors of Coaching are pleased to announce that LAFC is now affiliated with The New York Cosmos and Cosmos Academy – West. LAFC is clearly evolving; and the evolution is exciting. We recently announced some changes within our coaching structure, and are now pleased to announce a change to the organizational structure of the Club as a whole. LAFC’s Academy teams have joined forces with The New York Cosmos and will now be known as Cosmos Academy – West. The Club will now be known as LAFC Cosmos. With this new affiliation, LAFC Cosmos will continue to work with the Directors and Coaches of Cosmos Academy – West to create the best youth soccer program in the southland. This new relationship will benefit both the Girls’ and Boys’ programs of LAFC Cosmos as we will have direct access to The New York Cosmos’ camps and clinics, and we will be developing programs that bridge a relationship to the Girls and Boys programs of the equivalent Club on the East -- the Queens, NY club BW Gottschee (now known as BWG Cosmos.) Starting with the 2010/11 season, each of our players will be wearing the proud colors of The New York Cosmos. As we have always done, we will continue to promote youth development both on and off the field. And we will continue to honor our commitment to making club soccer available to players of every economic ability. Our success, both on and off the field, will only be bolstered by our ties to this legendary organization. http://www.lafcsoccer.com/
