By Dr. David Kilpatrick (@DrDKilpatrick)

The upcoming Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match scheduled for Wednesday, July 1 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey provides the New York Cosmos with an opportunity to play once again in the Garden State, where the club played its home matches at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands of East Rutherford from 1977-1984.

But the first game played by the Cosmos in the Garden State took place on June 20, 1971.  Yankee Stadium in the Bronx was home for the Cosmos’ inaugural season in 1971, with the Cosmos originally scheduled to play their twelve regular season matches at the old “House That Ruth Built.” However the baseball tenants reserved the right to veto any game due to weather, hours before kickoff.

Six games were postponed. One game was moved to Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey – a 3-1 win over Dallas that was the opener of a doubleheader, followed by Bologna vs. West Ham, drawing a crowd of 9,000. That game in Jersey was the second-largest home crowd for the Cosmos that season.

In 1977, the Cosmos moved west of the Hudson River into Giants Stadium at the sparkling new Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Cosmos also made Giants Stadium their full-time training facility, leaving Hofstra, where they had trained since 1972.

Bending to pressure from landlords the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the club formally dropped “New York” from its name for 1977, and though it was formally restored within a year, like their co-tenants the Football Giants, the local region/market was concealed in most marketing and promotional efforts, reflected most obviously with the modification of the club’s badge (“New York” of course restored to the badge with the club’s reboot). 

Although some in the organization feared crossing the Hudson and playing at a venue that couldn’t be accessed by train, when 77,691 fans gathered to witness the August 14, 1977 playoff game against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, setting an NASL attendance record, the arrival of Cosmos Country was confirmed. For seventy consecutive home games of NASL play, the Cosmos drew crowds of 30,000 or more, a streak running from 1977 to 1981.

In addition to Giants Stadium, Meadowlands (aka Brendan Byrne, lately Izod) Arena, at the Meadowlands, served as home for the 1981-82 indoor season.  Skipping a year before returning indoors, in 1983-84 home games were split between Byrne Arena and Madison Square Garden.  Although arenas in upstate New York and Connecticut were considered for the 1984-85 Major Indoor Soccer League season, the club remained at the Meadowlands for its last indoor home.

The last league match played in New Jersey was at the Meadowlands Arena on February 19, 1985.  The Cosmos broke a five-game losing streak with a 10-6 win over the Kansas City Comets with four goals from Mark Liveric and a hat trick from Angelo DiBernardo, along with goals from Dragan Vujovic, Robert Meschbach and legendary Brazilian defender, Carlos Alberto. 

Although the club planned 15-18 friendly matches for 1985 at Giants Stadium, only three were played, the last a 2-1 loss to Lazio on June 16 that ended in a rain-drenched brawl. 

A Cosmos Reunion match was held at Giants Stadium on July 21, 1991.  31,871 supporters turned out to watch two squads of 52 Cosmos alumni compete in a doubleheader. The Cosmos lost 5-0 to a squad of Italian masters and played to a 0-0 draw against a similarly composed Brazilian select side. 

Wednesday’s Gotham Derby in Harrison against the New York Red Bulls, 24 years removed from that Cosmos Reunion match, provides an opportunity for the team to once again compete in the state that hosted so many of its most memorable Golden Era moments.