Attention, New York Cosmos fans: Chuck is in your corner.

Support from Charles Schumer, the most powerful Democrat in the U.S. Senate, can't hurt at a time when the storied soccer club faces extinction after a federal judge ruled over the weekend that the U.S. Soccer Federation could banish the team—and the entire North American Soccer League in which it plays—to a lower division. Cosmos owner and NASL Chairman Rocco Commisso has said if the relegation stands he would lose so many players, sponsors and fellow owners that he would close the team rather than play in the bush leagues.

Schumer, who hails from Brooklyn, where the Cosmos play, called Tuesday on soccer's governing body to reverse its demotion of the franchise to professional soccer's third division.

"I'm urging the U.S. Soccer Federation to reconsider its decision and support division-two status for the North American Soccer League so that teams like the New York Cosmos can continue to thrive," Schumer said in a statement.

The U.S. Soccer Federation had no immediate comment.

The Cosmos were the toast of the New York sports scene 40 years ago, when fans packed Giants Stadium to watch superstars such as Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer. But the team and the NASL folded in the mid-1980s until they were revived about a decade ago. Last year, the Cosmos were on the brink of a second collapse when Commisso, a Bronx-raised cable TV mogul who Forbes reckons is worth $4.5 billion, rescued the club and vowed to make it relevant again. It was an ambitious goal in a market where Major League Soccer teams NYC FC and the Red Bulls already have lots of fans, but the Cosmos played before spirited crowds of about 5,000 per game at Coney Island's MCU Park this past season. On Sunday, the team plays for its fourth NASL championship in five years.

But the team's path to glory hit a huge pothole in September when the U.S. Soccer Federation decided to relegate the entire NASL to the third division in part because it has struggled to keep teams from moving up to Major League Soccer. Commisso, as league chairman, filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging the federation's power to determine the divisional status of professional domestic soccer leagues was unlawful. To make its case, the league hired prominent sports attorney Jeffrey Kessler, whose clients have included NFL superstar Tom Brady. But last Saturday Judge Margo Brodie denied the NASL's request for an injunction that would have blocked the demotion. The league is appealing, and Commisso appears driven to prevail.

"I'm going to fight this f------ thing because I know I'm right," he told Crain's at a court hearing last week before the judge handed down her ruling.