Cosmos, Wilpon family and Garber

There has been a lot of news over the past few days which has been challenging to decipher. The news we are speaking of is that of the Wilpon family and their financial woes. As everything else in life, one can take this in a positive and negative light, so we will try to look at both sides of the spectrum.

The negative spin is one of doom and gloom. There was always talk of a possible New York City based team and since 2007 those talks always included the Wilpon family. In 2008 the Wilpon family were openly in discussions with the league but those dreams got shattered as the news of a Ponzi scheme came across the news wire.

There is a very good chance that the Cosmos and Wilpon family are talking about building a stadium in Queens and there also stands a chance that the Wilpon family was to provide some of the financial muscle for such a facility. If that is the case, then this news is a MAJOR blow to New York City expansion.

The positive fan will say that even though Terry Byrne spoke of meetings with the Wilpon family, the Cosmos have another source of finances for a stadium plan. In the past the Cosmos have stated they have the finances lined up for both the stadium and expansion fee, so even if they have spoken with the Wilpon Family, it does not mean that the stadium plans rely heavily on finances from Sterling Equities.

Whether you are of the negative side or the positive side, all should be somewhat satisfied with the quotes today from Don Garber.


During a conference call, in which Major League Soccer announced that the All Star Game will be played at Red Bull Arena, Garber offered these quotes:

"We're still very focused on New York as our 20th team," 

"We're in disucssions with the Cosmos, but also with other ownership groups."

"While I have lots of respect and admiration for the guys who have relaunched that great brand and have done a good job from the marketing perspective and certainly have made a lot of noise, we've got to continue to ensure any group we speak to seriously about MLS expansion needs to have the financial capabilities, the long-term vision, the capability of getting a stadium built and developed and share the vision with the rest of the MLS owners," Garber said. "We'll continue those discussions both with them and with others. We're very focused on it. We're spending a lot of our time on the 20th team." So while he is saying the Cosmos are not a lock, the Commissioner still sounded very positive on NY expansion in general. Fans should try not to speculate so much and let the news come out and this picture will all be cleared up. Perhaps the Cosmos should comment on the situation as some fans are extremely worried about this.