Founded in December 1970, the team competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) until 1984 and was the strongest franchise in that league, both competitively and financially – based largely around its backing by Warner Communications President Steve Ross, which enabled it to sign internationally famous stars of the day such as the Brazilian forward Pelé, Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia, the West German sweeper Franz Beckenbauer, and famous Brazilian rightback Carlos Alberto Torres.

The acquisition of these foreign players, particularly Pelé, made the Cosmos into what journalist Gavin Newsham called "the most glamorous team in world football", and contributed to the development of soccer across the United States, a country where it had previously been largely ignored.

The Cosmos attempted to continue operations in the Major Indoor Soccer League, but attendances were so low that the club withdrew without completing a season.

That group ultimately chose not to join MLS, and the new Cosmos team played parts of five seasons in second- and third-tier leagues before suspending operations.

The club was founded in December 1970 by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, renowned executives at Atlantic Records, along with eight other executives from Atlantic's parent company Warner Communications, including CEO Steve Ross, president Jay Emmett, and Warner Bros. studio head Ted Ashley, each of whom put up one-tenth of the $350,000 NASL expansion fee.

The ten investors sold the club to their employer Warner Communications for one dollar, and Ross threw the conglomerate's weight behind the Cosmos.

"[5] The team's first recruit was the Englishman Clive Toye, a former sportswriter who had moved to the United States in 1967 to become general manager of the short-lived Baltimore Bays; he was given the same post in New York.

[6] Toye then staged a rigged "name the team" contest, receiving 3,000 entries and selecting one that just happened to match his pre-determined winner.

Two NYC teachers, Meyer Diller and Al Capelli, from Martin Van Buren High School in Queens, entered the contest and submitted the name "Cosmos".

The first roster signing of the club was Gordon Bradley, an English professional who had moved to North America in 1963 and played for the New York Generals in 1968.

[13] Bradley was replaced for the 1976 season by another Englishman, Ken Furphy, who paired Pelé up front with Italian international forward Giorgio Chinaglia, a new arrival from S.S. Lazio.

[13] He shared an unusual personal bond with the club's ultimate controller, Ross, and was therefore treated differently from the other players, including Pelé.

[18] Crowds rose with the arrival of these and other European and South American international players,[13] resulting in a move back to Yankee Stadium for the 1976 season.

With numerous foreign stars arriving at the Cosmos, the team's competitive performance improved, as New York reached the play-offs at the end of the season, but lost in the divisional championship match to the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

[24] After the retirement of Pelé in 1977, much of the progress that American soccer had made during his stay was lost; there was no star at the same level to replace him as the NASL's headline act.

Much of the Cosmos' ability to attract the well-known overseas players it had acquired was due to the financial resources of parent company Warner Communications.

[13][26] Following the collapse of the NASL, the team competed in the Major Indoor Soccer League during the 1984–85 season, with Klivecka briefly returning as coach,[27] but withdrew after 33 games due to low attendance.

[35] However, when old NASL names such as the San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps were revived as MLS franchises, he reconsidered.

[39] Kemsley's team instead joined the new second-tier incarnation of the North American Soccer League, starting play in its 2013 Fall season.

When Pelé arrived at the Cosmos in 1975, American soccer was, in Newsham's phrase, "dying a slow, painful and largely unnoticed death".

The Cosmos, in particular, became an internationally famous club – "the most glamorous team in world football", in Newsham's words, or "soccer demigods" in those of ESPN writer David Hirshey.

The Cosmos, as the flagship team of the NASL, embodied what Hirshey labeled the "nexus of soccer and showbiz", and became Warner Communications' most culturally visible asset.

The three colored "blades" surrounding the soccer ball in the center represent movement, while the font originally used was chosen simply because it was easily legible on the uniform.

Uniform suppliers used by the team:[48][49] Ahmet Ertegun used his connections to recruit Atlantic Records artists the Average White Band to create a theme song for the Cosmos.

The club's name and badge were designed to be inclusive of New York's many immigrant communities; the logo purposefully avoided the standard American red, white and blue.

The association of the team with the city's high society in both social and sporting contexts led to it becoming very popular among celebrities, both American and international.

"[19] The New York Cosmos are famous for having fielded numerous well-known players, almost all of whom were from outside the United States: examples include Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia from S.S. Lazio and Carlos Alberto.

[58] American players of note include goalkeeper Shep Messing – who was notoriously sold after posing nude for a magazine in December 1974, then brought back two years later on Pelé's insistence.

[61] The New York Cosmos' first head coach was the English-American professional Gordon Bradley, who had played in the English Football League's lower divisions during the 1950s before moving to America in 1963.

His Cosmos succeeded in reaching the post-season, but lost the divisional championship game to Vancouver, prompting Furphy's own departure in favor of a return for Bradley, whose second spell lasted only half a season before he was promoted to an advisory role.