It's official: The New York Cosmos are back.
Rather, the name and legacy of that legendary club now belongs to North Jersey Pro Soccer, the Paterson-based organization established earlier this year. The revived team will be known simply as the Cosmos, dropping the "New York" to acknowledge the club's current home in New Jersey.
The return of the Cosmos was originally reported here in Hudson River Blue last week, and can now be confirmed after an official announcement was made by the club earlier today. You can read the full story here.
The Cosmos will join USL League One in 2026 and will play at historic Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, a 7,800-seat venue originally built in 1932 that is recently upgraded courtesy of a $2.5 million contribution from North Jersey Pro Soccer.
Michael Battista
The Cosmos badge will rise once again thanks in large part to Erik Stover, the team’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. Stover is one of the most accomplished sports executives in the country, working for Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ and later Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA before joining New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer in 2008. As managing director of that club, he was oversaw the 2010 completion of Sports Illustrated Stadium (then called Red Bull Arena), and was credited with signing French superstar Thierry Henry to the team that same year.
Stover also has deep ties to the Cosmos. He joined Cosmos 2.0 in 2012 as Chief Operating Officer. Under Stover, the Cosmos signed former Spanish national team star Raúl, inked a kit sponsorship deal with Emirates, and signed of former MLS forward Giovanni Savarese as the team’s first-ever head coach.
As HRB reported last week, North Jersey Pro Soccer purchased primary ownership of the name, logo and other intellectual property from Rocco Commisso, the billionaire who revived the Cosmos in 2012 and who purchased Italian Serie A side ACF Fiorentina in 2019. The New York Times reports Commisso also sold "primary ownership of the club" to the new Paterson, New Jersey ownership group while retaining only a small stake.
Commisso was born in Italy but moved to New York City when he was young and attended Columbia University, where he played soccer from 1967 to 1970 and was named to the All-Ivy League team three times.
