Just as it was starting to look that the New York Cosmos brand was fading from the future of MLS, reports now indicate that it may have received new life. Big Apple Soccer is now reporting that a group of Saudi Arabian investors are in the process of buying out Cosmos chairman Paul Kemsley:
Saudi Arabians Reportedly Buy Into New York Cosmos Brand
The Cosmos had recently fallen out of the picture to become the 20th MLS team, but this could be the shot in the arm they need to get back on track.
“There are advanced talks of major changes here,” he said. “There is a discussion of one group totally owning the team and buying out one of the two partners.”
What this means for the future of the Cosmos brand is obviously far from clear. The only current path to a viable top-flight soccer team would be to join MLS, but there have long been rumors that the Cosmos could just become an at-large team and tour the planet like a soccer version of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Assuming these new investors still see MLS as the most reasonable path to legitimacy, their No. 1 priority would have to be finding a suitable stadium site. Based on recent comments Commissioner Don Garber has made, the Cosmos had basically fallen out of the picture to become the 20th MLS team, as they didn’t seem to have the funds nor a suitable stadium site to remain competition with the other ownership groups.
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