“Yes 77,691” NY Cosmos vs Fort Lauderdale (1977)

By Brian Koelbel

77,691.

That is a number any Cosmos fan in attendance on August 14th, 1977 will never forget.

On a rainy Sunday August evening in the Summer of Sam, the Cosmos hosted the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in an NASL 2nd round playoff game. The official attendance that evening was a Giants Stadium record 77,691, including 2,196 standing room tickets sold on game day.

For a frame of reference, the New York Yankees baseball team had a home series that weekend against the California Angels. The Yankees were engaged in a tight pennant race against Boston and Baltimore. The Yankee attendance for Saturday and Sunday, August 13th and 14th, was 75,968, for two games!

The one Cosmos playoff game outsold the 2 game weekend Yankee Series!

Few people remember those numbers, even fewer believe them, but I was fortunate enough to work for the team, so I lived it.

How did we get there?

Giants Stadium was built in Secaucus NJ from 1974 and finished in October 1976. Ironically, the team played their 1976 home games in Yankee Stadium, averaging 18,280 fans per game.

The team was relatively unchanged from ’76 to ’77, when the Cosmos played their first exhibition match in their new home on April 3rd, against rivals Tampa Bay Rowdies and their charismatic leader, Rodney Marsh. The Cosmos prevailed 2 - 0 on goals by Vito Dimitrijevic and Giorgio Chinaglia, with a disappointing attendance of 11,098.

As the regular season opened, Pele and Chinaglia were beginning to gel as a combination. Young winger Steve Hunt, in from Aston Villa, was proving to be an assist machine down the left flank. American viewers were still getting used to the new 35 yard offsides line rule and the draw breaking “shoot outs.” Americans Bobby Smith, Werner Roth, and Shep Messing anchored the defense,(Satisfying the league’s ‘North American Rule’) The team played some great football, but interest and attendance still lagged, The first 5 home games averaged 20,516, and the team had posted a disappointing 4 wins, 5 losses record through May 11th.

Tickets were not terribly expensive, ranging from $4.00 ‘nosebleeds’ to $12.00 for midfield, mezzanine seats. Mao ‘seat licenses’ back then. Driving and public transit access to the stadium was excellent. The slow start was puzzling.

Something had to change, and team owner Steve Ross (CEO of Warner Communications,) Team President Ahmet Ertegun (Founder and President of Atlantic Records) and his brother EVP Neshui Ertegun were just the men for the job. All veteran Global Entertainment Executives and Entrepeneurs, they knew the value of a “splash” in the New York Media.

Enter Franz Beckenbauer.

Der Kaiser

“Der Kaiser”….captured the World Cup trophy with West Germany in 1974, and European Cup with Bayern Munich in 1974, 1975, and 1976. He landed on American shores quite near the peak of his powers, at 31 years old. The Cosmos brass, after weeks of negotiations, announced his signing at the hallowed 21 Club in Manhattan in May 1977, and the fuse was lit.

His impact was immediate. His first game for the team, away to rivals Tampa Bay, drew 45,288. Tampa Bay’s average attendance over their first 4 home games at “The Big Sombrero” had been 23,105. Matches against Toronto and Minnesota generated strong home crowds in East Rutherford NJ over the next two weeks. The often ignored Cosmos were beginning to get strong coverage from the NY Times, NY Post, NY Daily News, and the Newark NJ Star Ledger. Team executives were beginning to get excited, but nobody was prepared for Father’s Day, 1977.

Rivals Tampa Bay were in town on Sunday, June 19th. The afternoon start had the advantage of spectacular early summer weather, and advance ticket sales were stronger than ever. Game Day sales broke records. Previously, the record team attendance at Giants Stadium was 36,816 seven days prior. 62,394 fans saw a Pele hat trick top Tampa bay 3 - 0. Game on!

Home attendance continued to soar, media coverage exploded, but the team performance in no way indicated a league championship on the horizon.

Enter defender Carlos Alberto Torres.

The Brazil / Fluminense / Santos legend, also 1970 Brazil World Cup winning Captain, fit in immediately. His arrival in Manhattan was somewhat memorable, arriving in the middle of New York’s largest electricity blackout ever on July 14th. Once on the pitch, Carlos helped the defense stabilize, and the team began looking toward the playoffs.

Front office excitement was growing. The 75 Rockefeller Plaza ticket office was often greeted with “Let’s Go Cosmos” banners. Improving results and frequent trips to Studio 54 kept the Cosmos in the news, and playoff tickets were becoming a hot item during the dog days of August, 1977.

The Cosmos beat Tampa Bay in NASL Playoff round 1 on August 10th, at Giants Stadium before 57,828 crazed fans. Two goals by Pele and one from Chinaglia sent the crowd home with delight.

The ensuing buzz created something spectacular.

The August 14th game against Fort Lauderdale Strikers sold out on August 11th, but demand remained strong. So, the front office approached the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority with the idea of selling standing room tickets. The Cosmos and NJSEA had never contemplated this fortunate challenge, but agreed the SRO tickets were good idea. The Giants Stadium design was comfortably spacious, and could surely accommodate standing room. The NY media had announced the sell-out, but team executives knew fans would still show up on Game Day looking to buy tickets.

On August 14th, classic Northeast US summer downpours did not deter fans whatsoever. Early first half goals by Chinaglia and Steve Hunt had the Cosmos comfortably ahead by halftime, and the outcome was not really in doubt.

After ticket sales and ‘ticket stub’ reconciliation counts, The Ticket Office reported the final attendance of 77,691 to team Marketing VP Tom Werblin, who then reported to NASL League office.

My work for the day was done, so my cousin and I watched the second half from the field, next to the Cosmos home goal. Pele ripped one direct kick so hard, I thought my cousin would be decapitated.

Then it happened. The stadium scoreboards simultaneously flashed “YES, 77,691”.

To this day, I have never heard such a loud crowd roar, and probably never will. The Cosmos won that night, 8 - 3, and went on to win Soccer Bowl 77 against Seattle Sounders in Portland, Oregon. We’re now coming up on 48 years ago. Few remember that night, and fewer were so privileged to live it.

This article was written for TFHB by Brian Koelbel