Pelé was the trigger for America's soccer revolution - MLS probably doesn't exist without him
Without Pelé and the New York Cosmos, the sport never would have made it into America's mainstream
It’s fashionable to say the original NASL failed- heck MLS has basically pushed that narrative for 27 years. While it’s true MLS’ stance began to soften once Seattle fans overwhelmingly wrote in “Sounders” when MLS wanted the team named something else, and then Portland and Vancouver maintained their NASL legacy names, the very mention of the New York Cosmos evokes anger from many an MLS fan. Why? It’s a legacy the league still has failed to live up to, though MLS itself would not exist in my opinion if not for the Cosmos and Pelé signing in NASL.
I’ll save my personal experiences with MLS as the NASL (2010-2017) Director of Communications when we brought the Cosmos back into our league for another posting, but rest assured, the Cosmos makes MLS very uncomfortable.
But it shouldn’t. MLS, US Soccer, the game itself including the popularity in the USA of European clubs like Real Madrid, Liverpool and others all owes itself to the signing of Pelé by the Cosmos.
Prior to Clive Toye and two huge entertainment executives, Ahmet Ertegun and Stephen Ross luring Pelé to New York, the NASL was a struggling league which was only successful in niche areas - specifically St Louis and Atlanta.
Much has been made of the 1968 friendly where the Atlanta Chiefs, the NASL Champion beat Manchester City the reigning English Champion - many claim this was the torch that lit the soccer fire in the country. But it was not- it was a fleeting moment in a summer where America was ablaze politically and in the middle of a war in Vietnam so it did not really register outside Atlanta.
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