The New York Cosmos are starting their fourth season of NASL play with a growing profile for both the club and the league.
That profile, admittedly, still pales compared to the stature the Cosmos and the NASL had in the 1970s and ’80s. But media and sponsorship signings are increasing on both fronts. The Cosmos last week renewed with jersey sponsor Emirates Airline. Earlier this year, it signed with Under Armour in a deal that marked UA’s first pro soccer team sponsorship in the United States. NASL, meanwhile, announced CBS Sports Network last week as an additional TV partner for its 2016 season, which kicked off this past weekend.
NASL in its current form has been in play since 2011, growing from eight teams then to 11 this spring. The Cosmos joined in 2013 and have traveled internationally for friendlies on top of the team’s NASL slate. Club Chairman Seamus O’Brien talked last week about the recent developments and where he sees both the club and the league going in the future.
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Seamus O’Brien says despite the club’s history, “I’m not personally one to dwell in the past.”
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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What do the deals with Emirates (which also sponsors high-profile global clubs Arsenal and Real Madrid) and with Under Armour say about your ambitions?
O’BRIEN: Hopefully it speaks to a lot of their faith in us and what the club stands for, both in terms of historically and the journey we’re on now. I believe we have a global presence as a team, and we’ve made a point of trying to build on that by visiting six countries in the last two years. We want to be part of that global football economy, where players move around the world, sponsorship dollars move around the world, media rights move around the world — that’s the game we ultimately want to be a part of. … Our commercial revenue base has grown over 40 percent compared to last year, and we’re looking to have similar growth into 2017.
■ The Cosmos as a brand have a long, storied history. How do you balance the past with the present?
O’BRIEN: I’m not personally one to dwell in the past; you have to live for today and live in the real world. However, you have to have a path on where you want to go in the future, and I think if you’re successful today and you’re building along that pathway, then the past is very much in the mix of what you represent today.
The history of some of the great European teams wouldn’t be relevant if they were in the third division, or if they weren’t successful today. The history of Manchester United is woven into their DNA, and it’s part of the fan appeal and commercial value of the club, and so long as we remain successful today and have a clear path on where we’re going, then the history plays a part in that.
■ Three new teams will debut in the NASL this year: one owned by Riccardo Silva (Miami FC), one by Carmelo Anthony (Puerto Rico FC) and one by Spanish club Rayo Vallecano (Rayo OKC). What does that say about the league?
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The club has a deal with Emirates, which also sponsors Arsenal and Real Madrid.
Photo by: NEW YORK COSMOS
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O’BRIEN: It’s hopefully supporting the decision we made a few years back to go this route. I think it says if you’re in the international football arena, and you’re taking a look at North America, that clearly the NASL is the better business opportunity. If you look at the supposed market values in each league, savvy owners are probably going, “That seems to be a pretty smart bet.”
■ What’s your vision for what the NASL can be?
O’BRIEN: The goal is to be 20 teams before 2020, and I think we’ll do that before then. As an ownership group, we’re very focused in on today. Look, the league has come a very long way, but we know there is a lot of things we have to do. Every ownership group is focused on stadiums, we know that game-day revenue is a key part of the overall commercial mix, and every ownership group has got plans or is looking at plans for stadiums, and that was the same evolution that MLS and others went through.
■ The NASL is making strides on the television side, having deals now with beIN Sports, One World Sports, CBS Sports Network and ESPN (for ESPN3). Have you been encouraged by the quick progress compared to just a few years ago, where there was little national TV availability?
O’BRIEN: We’ve gone from nowhere to having three national deals and a streaming deal, and I think a few people are going to say, “What’s going on here?” We’re delighted with that, and we’ll have upwards of 70 percent of the games available in some sort of national coverage and streaming, so we’ve come a million miles in just a few years. The next step is getting a bit more international exposure, but one step at a time. MLS and others have taken 20 years to get to where they are, and we started in 2011. So we’re not doing too badly I’d say.
Clearly the exposure for the league is going to be significantly enhanced this year, and as a result, the brand profile of the league will be significantly greater and I think that will play to our strengths. I think you can expect that the league will probably secure a major sponsorship for next year on the back of that.
■ In 2013, the club responded to an Empire State Development Corp. RFP, proposing a privately financed $400 million stadium project near Belmont Park. As no decision has been made yet, do you expect a decision soon?
O’BRIEN: We went through a revised RFP process [in November 2015], answered many questions, and the state said they will bring this to a conclusion. We are confident that will happen in the near future, and we very strongly believe we have the most compelling case for the site, but ultimately that’s a decision in the hands of the state and the governor [Andrew Cuomo].
