The brainchild of Steve Ross (a passionate
soccer fan who was also a major executive at Warner Communications) and Ahmet Ertegun and Nesuhi Ertegun (the founders of Atlantic Records), the Cosmos got off to a rocky start in 1971 (no one was especially happy with the playing
field at Randall's Island, and some rowdy fans were known to throw broken glass onto the grass), but things changed in 1975 when the world's most celebrated
soccer star, the
Brazilian champion Pele, signed with the Cosmos for a five - million - dollar payday.