The North American Soccer League's curious rise and fall, spanning 1968-1984, is explored through the lens of the New York Cosmos, its most famous club. The league struggled to gain traction in the US, where soccer was virtually unknown, until the Cosmos signed global superstar Pele in 1975. Attendance skyrocketed, surpassing NFL teams like the Giants and Jets, and exhibition games in Seattle drew massive crowds. However, Pele's 1977 retirement marked the beginning of the NASL's decline, as financial issues and the Cosmos' lavish spending habits became a controversy.
Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos
The film tells the story of the New York Cosmos' remarkable journey, transforming the US soccer scene by luring Pelé in the 1970s, and explores their meteoric rise to fame and subsequent downfall in 1970s New York City.
