The New York Cosmos are back. A ceremony last Thursday, July 10, at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ, saw the official announcement made in front of a who's who of local celebrities.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, former New York Cosmos goalkeeper Shep Messing, and former Cosmos head coach Gio Savarese were all in attendance for Thursday's program. They joined in an event that included multiple major announcements, and that saw Hudson River Blue speak with Cosmos co-owner and CEO Erik Stover.
In this exclusive interview, Stover discussed how the Cosmos will identify and develop local talent, function "like a European club," retain a relationship with previous owner Rocco Commisso, build a museum before the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup to tell the team's full story, and embrace rivalries with regional powerhouses.
The news of the return of the Cosmos originally broke here at HRB two weeks ago, and is now confirmed after official announcements were made by the club. You can read our original July 1 story here, and the follow-up here.
Oliver Strand
Realistic roster expectations
Thursday's event included a lot of information beyond simply the official return of the New York Cosmos. There was the reveal of the team's new logo, which features "Cosmos" (without the "New York") on a familiar but updated crest.
There was the implied, and later confirmed, announcement that New Jersey-based sportswear company Capelli Sport will be the official uniform and training gear partner. In addition, the Cosmos intend to launch a women's team sometime in the near future, with multiple members of the event mentioning 2027 as a start date.
But what about the roster? After all, the Cosmos have been linked to major names throughout their history. The Cosmos of the 1970s had Pelé. The Cosmos of the 2010s had Raúl. Who will this version of the Cosmos sign? One of the questioners asked the Cosmos panel how they intend to keep this going.
Promotional video courtesy Cosmos and Cappelli Sport
The short answer: They don't. Instead, the team plans to focus more on in-house development of players from the local area.
"I believe that the real magic will be the players that we’re able to develop here in the Paterson area, in the North Jersey area," said the Cosmos' newly announced Head of Soccer Giuseppe Rossi, who grew up in nearby Clifton. "I think that's the real magic, for now, and our focus is to win, to build a winning culture like, Baye [Adofo-Wilson, the Cosmos new majority owner] said. But also not to forget about the development of these young players and give them a platform to show their talents, because I feel like the USL is a great platform for them."
"They've done an amazing job in the USL to create this, and it's a privilege for us to be in this league, and then eventually obviously build players from our area," said Rossi.
Stover: Cosmos will be "like a European club"
Speaking one-on-one with HRB, club CEO Erik Stover delved more into local recruitment, while also addressing Cosmos fan frustrations with the team following their most recent NASL tenure. The new Cosmos CEO addressed accusations that the club didn’t have the ambition post-2017, keeping with a legendary name like the Cosmos under previous owner Commisso.
"What we're going to do is build a club that's very much like a European club with multiple sports, multiple activities, and not just sport, art, culture, we talked about that a little bit on the inside, and I think the fans, that's really going to resonate with them," said Stover.
"I think you heard some of them were saying, ‘How do we get involved, how do we help?’ The fans that I knew, they loved when we were signing local players and giving them a chance, David Diosa, Sebastián Guenzatti, Leo Fernandez."
"That's always been in the DNA of the Cosmos. It will continue to be in the DNA, but we also have a lot of ambition here, and what's great about it is we have the chance to realize our goals through promotion and relegation on both the men's and women's side," said Stover. "So, I understand the frustration, but the politics of soccer at that time, the USL was not an option for us at that time."
Commisso sold Cosmos rights but retains minority stake
Following HRB's original reporting at the beginning of July, a major question remained over the potential involvement of Rocco Commisso, the Italian-American businessman who acquired the Cosmos brand in 2017.
Commisso is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Mediacom, and the current owner of the Italian football club ACF Fiorentina. Under Commisso, the Cosmos played in multiple leagues under increasingly unstable circumstances.
In last Thursday's announcement, the Cosmos clarified that North Jersey Pro Soccer now has control of the Cosmos' intellectual and physical property, as well as the history and heritage, after acquiring it from New York Cosmos LLC, the entity controlled by Commisso.
New York Cosmos LLC and Commisso will retain a minority ownership stake in the New Jersey-based club.
"The deal is done. We have all of it. We have the history, the trophies,” Stover told HRB. "As far as Rocco goes, he retains a minority stake in the club, but he's not an active part of day-to-day operations."
Commisso was not in attendance at Thursday's event in Paterson, though representatives of the billionaire businessman were there and were mentioned by Stover during and after the event. Commisso's presence will still be felt within the Cosmos organization. According to Stover, Commisso is the reason why the team is even playing today.
"This would not be happening if Rocco didn't come to us and say, 'We wanna have the Cosmos on the field again,'" Stover said during the event to a packed room. "There's been a lot of criticism of Rocco in recent years, but he showed a lot of courage and spent a lot of money to stand up and fight for what he believed in."
"I think very strongly that we wouldn't be talking about the possibility of promotion and relegation in the USL right now if he didn't have the nerve and the guts to take on that fight, and so to not only take on that fight but also entrust us with the legacy and to put the team back on the field, so thank you, Rocco for that.”
Stover also told HRB that the fight will continue in other ways. The organization is planning on building a Cosmos museum to be finished prior to the 2026 World Cup.
"We'll be able to tell those stories, and some of those stories have not been told accurately or fairly, so this will give us a chance to set the record straight, at least from our point of view."
And part of that story, for Stover, is Commisso saving the club in the first place. First in the NASL, then in wanting to see the team live again in USL League One.
"It was very important for him, and he sacrificed a lot to fight the fight that we had, and it's not over yet. But it's equally important why he saved the club in the first place is to see the players on the field again," said Stover.
Commisso and the North American Soccer League are currently appealing the league’s jury trial loss to the US Soccer Federation and Major League Soccer from February in a lawsuit that alleged conspiratorial collusion between the two parties.
Hudson River Blue Staff
Cosmos not liable for NISA exit fee
The Cosmos have moved through a number of leagues over the years. The club competed in the now-defunct second-division North American Soccer League from 2013 to 2017, winning three NASL Championships during that span, then joined the third-division National Independent Soccer Association in late 2019. At the same time, the organization's Second Team played in the National Premier Soccer League, a high-skill amateur summer league, winning the league title once in 2015.
Following the NASL's collapse post-2017, the Second Team remained in the NPSL for two more seasons, reaching the league final again in 2019, qualifying for two US Open Cup tournaments, and participating in the 2019 NPSL Member's Cup tournament.
The First Team, meanwhile, stayed quiet for about two years before finally joining the third-division National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) in late 2019 with plans to begin play in Fall 2020.
Following the onset of the COVID pandemic, the New York Cosmos played in the Fall 2020 NISA season before going on hiatus, citing the pandemic and financial burdens.
That brings up the question of the Cosmos' current status with NISA. For years after that hiatus announcement, the team remained on the league's website listed as a member, though that has not been the case for about a year. Furthermore, teams that leave NISA to join other professional leagues usually have to pay an exit fee.
Reportedly, Detroit City FC of USL Championship was making six-figure payments to NISA to fulfill this agreement even after moving into the USL ecosystem. The exit fee is also one reason why, according to sources, Rochester, New York's Flower City Union is not playing in any USL league at the moment.
When asked if the Cosmos were still paying NISA, Stover said no money is currently owed. "No, so again, the Cosmos were an active member of NISA. They weren't on the field, but they were still a dues-paying member for years," Stover said. "There's no further charge for us moving forward as far as it relates to NISA."
While answering a separate question, Stover went further into detail on the Cosmos' brief tenure in NISA.
"I think we all saw how (NISA) played out. When we were starting with NISA and I looked around the room for the first time, you know, (The) Miami FC was in there, (Oakland Roots SC) was just starting out, those guys were really impressive. (Chattanooga FC), (Detroit City FC), there were other teams, that core group was really impressive, and for us, we wanted to keep it going. But Covid hit, and the league just didn't function the way a league should function. So I totally understand Rocco's decision to put it on the shelf."
NISA is currently unsanctioned by US Soccer, which was first reported by HRB in December. The league is currently attempting to organize a Fall tournament and restructure for a 2026 professional season.
Michael Battista
How the Cosmos fit into the Tri-State soccer scene
The second 2010s iteration of the Cosmos was not friendly to the rest of the New York professional soccer scene. During the presentation, Stover described them as "aggressive." That really followed the ethos of the NASL at the time: The alternative trying to eventually gain Division I status.
Now in 2025, USL is that alternative trying to gain Division I status.
HRB asked Stover what he thinks the relationship will be with local area teams. Already, the Cosmos have a built-in rivalry with Westchester SC as geographic USL League One rivals, and Brooklyn FC, when and if that men's team launches in USL Championship, could become a rival via promotion and relegation or the US Open Cup.
There was also mention of USL League Two side Morris Elite SC being a developmental partner with the club.
Stover did not directly mention either New York City FC or his former employers, the New York Red Bulls.
"I think (competition is) important for sport, and I think for decades soccer's been too homogenous, and you need good versus evil. We have that in all of our other sports in this country, and if you go anywhere in the world, good versus evil is clearly defined," said Stover.
"It may depend on what side of the fence you're on, but that's what drives it. That's what drives the passion, and we don't have enough of that, in my personal opinion, and we need to tell those stories, and if people see you as the bad guy, there's nothing wrong with that. You can embrace that and, and just keep competing."
Stover went on to talk about the continued growth of USL since the 2010s, including hinting at more things planned down the line for New Jersey soccer.
"I think what USL has done really well as it has grown and their footprints getting bigger and bigger, so it's awesome for us to have a road match in Westchester. There's other things happening here in New Jersey, I think, in the coming years. So all of that, I think it's gonna be really good for the sport. It's what the rest of the world's used to, that you can drive to a road match or take a train to a road match, and you're not getting on a plane and flying for six hours."
"I think the USL has done a great job in its expansion," said Stover. "It's been very strategic, and there's more coming, so those stories are going to develop on their own. They're gonna happen on the pitch and there will be rivalries created because of the intensity of those matches.”
With this Cosmos news, the USL's future in North Jersey now also includes people like the New York Cosmos Supporters Collective, a group of fans who stayed together during the hiatus and channeled their passion into charity work and supporting lower-division soccer in New York City.
“On a personal level, having nothing to do with Cosmos or soccer, and doing some of the things you mentioned, top-class people," Stover said of the supporters' group.
"When we start playing here, they're gonna be here and just as loud as they always were, and I think what we're doing is really going to resonate with them. So it does feel good for so many of us to sacrifice so much, for your club to go out of business and be truthfully run out of business and de-sanctioned, in the name of trying to do things the right way. It was a big price to pay. But fast forward now, it doesn't make the last 10 years easy, but we have a chance to do it right now. We would not have had this chance, I personally believe, without those fights."
The Cosmos Return | Official Announcement
Michael Battista
