STEVE HAMLIN PHOTOGRAPHY

by JAKE NUTTING

Rocco Commisso waited years for the right time and opportunity to become the owner of a soccer team. A few months ago, the opportunity came to him.

It happened last December in the form of the New York Cosmos, but required quick action and hefty damage control to rescue the storied club from its debts and the questionable decisions of its previous majority owners.

A little over a month after taking control of the club, the lifelong soccer fan, player and cable media executive is starting to feel comfortable in his new role.

“My world has changed,” Commisso said. “I didn’t realize how much work I needed to get going. When I bought the team there was only Giovanni Savarese and three players, everyone had been let go. It’s been a lot of work. But we’re gonna get there.”

In a few weeks the Cosmos’ roster has grown to nearly 20 players, with more arrivals to come. Commisso’s commitment to salvaging the Cosmos was instrumental in the team being able to re-sign many players from last year’s championship squad, according to Savarese.

“Very rapidly you realize why Rocco has been successful,” Savarese said.“From the first day he has been able to come to every little department of the Cosmos to improve it, to understand it, to make sure that it works. He has not only put himself, but also his family and the entire Mediacom staff in position to make sure the Cosmos are successful.”

With the roster filling up and the team’s week-long preseason trip to the Dominican Republic set to start this weekend, Commisso has given Savarese the tools he needs to start constructing a competitive team and defend the NASL title.

Many questions still remain unanswered, but Commisso said the organization is working ahead of the season opener on March 25. A local TV deal to increase the team’s profile after years on ONE World Sports, a channel with limited distribution, could be signed soon. Local print and TV advertising should begin within the next two weeks.

The move to Coney Island’s MCU Park from Hosftra University for the coming season offers a fresh start. To address past complaints about the baseball stadium’s artificial turf, Commisso is exploring the idea of laying a carpet on top of MCU’s current surface, possibly using the Nexxfield turf system employed by Rayo OKC last year.

“We’re working as we speak with potentially putting a field on top of the field so it’ll look more like a soccer stadium more than a baseball stadium,” he said. “But like everything else, give me time. I’ll have a final answer once we try out the new field. It’s not easy.”

Commisso is also, understandably, asking for time when it comes to the big picture issues facing the Cosmos and the North American Soccer League. Along with his duties as owner of the Cosmos, Commisso will be taking an active role within the NASL as a member of the league’s new expansion committee. The league was thrown a lifeline last month with provisional sanctioning from the U.S. Soccer Federation, sharing Division II with the United Soccer League, but it must increase its ranks from eight to 12 teams to maintain that status beyond 2017.

“I don’t want to say I have a lot of money to waste, but I do,” Commisso said, joking. “The Cosmos are O.K., but I don’t control the full destiny of the team. There’s gotta be a league that survives. With respect to the league itself, we have eight teams. One is being managed by the league, which is Jacksonville. I’m part of the committee that’s going to go out and recruit and bring into the league more teams. It is my objective, along with the rest of the league, to try to get at least 12 teams as we begin 2018, possibly more.”

What happens if the NASL fails to meet its goal of rapid expansion and endangers its Division II status for next year? Like many of the questions still facing the Cosmos, that is to be determined. For now, Commisso is requesting a little patience.

“We have provisional D2 status but so does the other league,” he said. “There’s a lot of waivers both leagues have in order to operate as Division II status. That’s an ongoing negotiation and discussion that won’t be decided today because 2018 is a year and a half down the road. Give us a chance to bring in some new teams and I’ll give you a better response.”