Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos Page #3

I said, "Clive, wait. You told me our

biggest challenge is to get exposure.

"I got you more exposure in one

centerfold than you've got all year!"

In 1974, Ross moved the team

closer to the city

in an effort to attract more fans.

The only available venue was

Downey Stadium on Randall's Island,

just below the Triborough Bridge

connecting the Bronx and Queens

with Manhattan.

It's Randall's Island, a prison and

some guy selling hot dogs. That's all!

The field was like broken bottles and dirt,

but we thought that was a step up.

I remember having great difficulty

getting out of my bed on game days.

'You know, really not wanting

to go to Randall's Island.'

It was not the type of place

that you'd play on purpose.

It's where you've played

all your home games.

You might not like the ground,

but they like it 50% worse than you.

You can do it! But it's up to you.

Randall's Island was quite appropriate

for some of the players we had.

The team's fourth season would be

its worst yet:
14 losses in 20 games.

We were getting absolutely nowhere.

Nowhere. It was hopeless.

Steve Ross would need

more than just the game

to transform the Cosmos

into a major league attraction.

New York,

we talk about Joe DiMaggio,

and we talk about Babe Ruth

and we talk about Mickey Mantle,

and we talk about Joe Namath.

And we said, "You know, what we really

need in this team is a big name player."

'Clive said to me,

"Why don't we talk to this guy, Pel?"'

I said, "Who's Pel? I have no idea."

Pel was Pel, there was no better

player more spectacular

and more famous in the history

of the game than Pel.

As a boy growing up in the slums

of Brazil, he saw his father weep

after their country's loss

in the 1950 World Cup final.

Pel vowed to win one for his father.

Eight years later at age 17,

he became the youngest man ever

to win a World Cup winner's medal,

leading Brazil to victory.

The first of a record three

World Cup championships.

Only one player in the world could

break through this crust of antipathy,

'more than just indifference,

'and that was Pel.'

In October 1974,

he announced his retirement

from his life-long club, Santos.

Clive came to us one day and said,

"I think there's a chance of getting Pel."

That's not quite true.

My brother told Steve Ross to sign Pel.

That's the biggest load of nonsense

I've heard today,

maybe this week, maybe this year.

The idea of signing Pel was

either Phil Woosnam's or mine.

The first approach to Pel

was done in 1970.

Long before anyone at Warner,

including Ahmet and Nesuhi

and Steve Ross and everybody else

had ever heard of soccer.

Steve Ross asked Nesuhi,

"Who is the greatest player?"

And Nesuhi said,

"The greatest player is Pel."

I got to tell you that...

I'm going to stop for a minute by saying

this is going to be like "Rashomon".

Everybody's going to have

a different view of everything.

Toye and Woosnam had

in fact approached Pel

about coming to America just one

month after the Cosmos were formed.

Toye even insisted the teams colors

be yellow, the same as Brazil.

The Cosmos, New York, my face,

my name had been registered.

In 1971, Toye could only dream

of signing a World Cup legend.

By '74, he worked for a dream maker

and a risk taker.

People said, "You can't get him."

He'd say, "I don't want to hear about can't.

Let's try."

'Ross didn't just see

the world's greatest soccer player.'

He saw a global brand,

he saw Pel soccer shoes,

'Pel jerseys, even Pel cologne,'

'that Warners could license to every

soccer playing country in the world.'

And he also saw something else.

He saw television.

He saw a path

to what had been promised.

Soccer, as America's

new big league sport.

What'll it cost?

That's always the first question.

That's very much the American mentality.

"'If we can't create it we can assume it,'

"because at the end of the day

it's all about money."

'Nesuhi, myself and Pel,

Raphael and, I guess, Clive

'met in a seaside resort with a fellow

called Shisto, who was into every...'

Pel had 32 advisors.

We played soccer with Pel

on the beach. Can you imagine?

That'll be on my headstone:

"He played soccer with Pel."

'And by then Real Madrid and

Juventus had started sniffing around.

'And so I had come up with:'

"If you go to them, all you can win

is another championship.

"Whereas if you come with us,

you can win a country."

He loved the lure of that.

He was going to open a new frontier.

'And that was America,

the great challenge of America.'

'That night I called Steve Ross.'

I said, "I think this guy's gonna play for us."

And he couldn't believe it!

'I was negotiating with Dustin Hoffman

'for the film called

"All the President's Men".'

Then I got a call to see Steve and Jay

in their office, and they said,

"Norman, we want you to go to Brazil

"and sign a soccer player named Pel."

And I said, "OK."

I was greeted by a number of paparazzi

and other photographers.

People idolized Pel, as they did

all over the world, I suspect.

But in Brazil he was clearly

a national treasure.

And they didn't want to let him go.

Ross was ready to risk $2mn

for three years of play.

Pel wanted $5mn for two years.

Quite a difference.

There was no way we were going

to spend that. So we called Jay.

'They called me about 2:00 A.M.,

saying, "Change the deal a little."'

I said, "Norman, do what you have to do.

We got to get him.

"We want him.

No matter pretty much what it costs."

And he said, "I have one more thing

to tell you."

'I said, "What's that, Jay?"

And he hung up on us.'

I took the phone off the hook,

cos I knew there'd be more calls.

All right, so basically it was up to us.

And we proposed a five-part deal.

Five contracts.

Three years for playing.

Ten years of world-wide marketing rights.

A 14-year PR contract.

A music contract. The total package was,

we owned him, lock, stock and barrel.

Has anybody ever mentioned

the amount we paid Pel?

- He got a lot of money.

- Pel was paid $4.5mn.

- $3mn for two years.

- $5mn.

All together, $2.7mn.

The highest-paid player in baseball

became the home-run king that year.

Henry "Hank" Aaron was making

$200,000 a season.

What Warners came to him with was

like the apple in the Garden of Eden.

'It would've been a very strong and

strange individual who'd turn that down.'

Pel okayed the deal.

His country did not.

Citing his status as a national treasure,

the president of Brazil demanded

he play one more year for his country

rather than go to America.

Pel turned to his suitors for help.

Warner Communications headquarters,

75 Rockefeller Center, New York.

Nelson Rockefeller was

a Vice President of the United States.

'My father worked

for Nelson Rockefeller.'

And they asked my dad to put in a good

word to the Brazilian government

and wouldn't this be a great thing for

both countries to have Pel come here.

'Like three or four days later,

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