Steven Jay Ross (born Steven Jay Rechnitz; April 5, 1927 – December 20, 1992) was an American businessman and CEO of
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
(now
Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with D ...
),
Warner Communications
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
in the United States.
Early life and education
Ross was born Steven Jay Rechnitz on April 5, 1927 in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York City, the son of Jewish immigrants. His father—who lost all his money during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
—changed the family name to ''Ross'' in hope of finding work with fewer struggles. Ross attended
Paul Smith's College
Paul Smith's College is a private college in Paul Smiths, New York. Paul Smith's College offers associate and bachelor's degrees. Its 14,000-acre campus is one of the largest college campuses in the world. Approximately 1,000 students attend ...
for two years and then joined the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
. After his military service, he went to work at his uncle's store in the Garment District in Manhattan.
Career
In 1953, he married Carol Rosenthal, the daughter of a Manhattan funeral home owner,
Edward Rosenthal
Edward Rosenthal (1903–1991) was a former vice chairman of Warner Communications and president/owner of the Jewish funeral home chain, Riverside Memorial Chapel.Riverside Memorial Chapel
The Riverside Memorial Chapel is a Jewish funeral home chain with their main facility at 180 West 76th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City.New York Times: "A $78 Million Year: Steve Ross Defends His Paycheck" BY ROGER COHEN March 22, 1992 and enabled Ross to obtain bank financing to start a rental company, Abbey Rent a Car.
He later merged Abbey with a parking lot operator, the
Kinney Parking Company
Kinney Parking Company was a New Jersey parking lot company owned by Manny Kimmel, Sigmund Dornbusch, and mob figure Abner Zwillman.
History
Kinney Parking Company was incorporated in 1945 by Manny Kimmel. In 1961, Kinney reached an agreement ...
, which was then owned by underworld crime figures
Manny Kimmel
Emmanuel Kimmel (April 14, 1896 – July 18, 1982) was a notable underworld figure between the 1930s and 1960s and the founder of the Kinney Parking Company, a chain of parking lots and garages which evolved into the media conglomerate Warner Com ...
and
Abner Zwillman
Abner "Longie" Zwillman (July 27, 1904 – February 26, 1959) was a Jewish-American mobster who was based primarily in North Jersey. He was a long time friend and associate of mobsters Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. Zwillman's criminal organi ...
, and added an office cleaning business (which was jointly owned by the funeral home and a cousin of his father-in-law). Kinney was taken public in 1962 with a market valuation of $12.5 million. In 1964, Kinney purchased wood flooring manufacturer Circle Floor from Seymour and
Paul Milstein
Paul Milstein (May 12, 1922 – August 9, 2010) was an American real estate developer and philanthropist.
Early life and education
Milstein was born to a Jewish familyNew York Times: "Milstein Opens Throttle as Builder" October 18, 1981
Ross served as company president and moved the firm from downtown New York to 10
Rockefeller Plaza
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...
. In 1966, Kinney expanded into the entertainment business by purchasing the
Ashley-Famous
Ashley-Famous was a talent agency started in 1955 by talent agent Ted Ashley. The agency had a successful 16-year run under that name and owner; it was responsible for many hit television shows and had several famous clients. It changed ownership a ...
talent agency (founded by
Ted Ashley
Ted Ashley (August 3, 1922 – August 24, 2002) was the chairman of the Warner Bros. film studio from 1969 to 1980 and founder of the Ashley-Famous talent agency.
Biography
Ashley was born to a poor American Jews, Jewish family in Brooklyn in 192 ...
) and then in 1969, Kinney paid $400 million for the ailing
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. was a short-lived American entertainment company active from 1967 until 1969.
History
Seven Arts Productions acquired Jack L. Warner's controlling interest in Warner Bros. Pictures for $32 million in November 19 ...
film studio and television and record business. Three years later, after spinning off its non-entertainment assets, Kinney National Services renamed itself
Warner Communications
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
with Ross serving as co-CEO from 1969 to 1972.
Warner Communications/Time Warner
In 1971, Warner expanded into the cable television business by purchasing various small cable companies. Ross competed directly with the Big Three television networks that dominated television broadcasting, believing in the potential of ''narrowcasting'' whereby separate cable channels were developed to target specific audiences with narrower interests, mirroring the radio station model. This pioneering approach led to the creation of the successful cable TV channels
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
and
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
which were both later sold at a great profit.
In 1972, Ross was appointed CEO, president and chairman of
Warner Communications
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
. He introduced an incentive-based compensation program and delegated responsibility to his middle managers. His support and commitment to his employees, combined with lucrative financial incentives and a hands-off management style, inspired deep loyalty. Many employees saw him as a father figure: "Steve was very much what I wish my father was,"
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
said. Spielberg dedicated his 1993 film ''
Schindler's List
''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film fo ...
'' to Ross.
In 1976,
Warner Communications
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
purchased
Atari, Inc.
Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry.
Based primarily around the Sunny ...
and had great success with its
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...
consoles. But by 1983, Atari collapsed in the wake of the video games crash that same year, leaving
Warner Communications
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
vulnerable to a hostile takeover.
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
tried to buy Warner, but Ross was able to impede him by selling 20 percent of Warner to
Chris-Craft Industries
Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly held American corporation that was traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. In 1962, the company adopted the name of one of its acquisitions, Chris ...
(then controlled by Herbert J. Siegel).
In 1979, needing financing to further expand its cable television business, Ross partnered with
American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
, convincing its executives on the potential of selling AmEx credit cards direct to Warner cable TV customers.
Warner-AmEx Cable
Paramount Media Networks (formerly known as Warner Cable Communications, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, MTV Networks, Viacom Media Networks, and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks) is an American mass media division of Paramount Global tha ...
was established and Warner received a much needed capital injection. AmEx's cross-sale expectations never materialized and in 1984, Warner bought out American Express's remaining share. The cable TV business eventually became the cornerstone of the company until being spun off in 2009.
In 1989, Warner Communications was merged with
Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
in a $14 billion deal creating the largest media and entertainment company at the time. The merger was seen as a perfect fit: Warner's business was 40 percent international while Time's business was 91% percent domestic; Warner had no magazines while Time had 23 titles; Warner had the world's largest record business while Time was not involved in music; and both were big in the capital intensive cable business where economies of scale mattered. Originally advertised as a combination of equals with both Ross and J. Richard Munro of
Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
listed as Co-Chief Operating Officers, within a year of the merger, Ross became the sole CEO. By 1989, Time Warner owned ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', ''
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' and ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'' magazines (the three largest advertising draws in American publishing); the
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
studio in Hollywood; the
Warner
Warner can refer to:
People
* Warner (writer)
* Warner (given name)
* Warner (surname)
Fictional characters
* Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner, stars of the animated television series ''Animaniacs''
* Aaron Warner, a character in ''Shatter Me s ...
,
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
Asylum
Asylum may refer to:
Types of asylum
* Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome
* Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute
* Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea
...
record companies;
Warner Books
Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hachett ...
;
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
;
Home Box Office
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
and some of the country's largest cable television systems.
Visionary
Ross moved before many of his competitors to bet heavily on the worldwide potential of cable television, records, videos, and other experiments. Some of his ideas were successful and others failed, but he influenced the development of media and entertainment with his ideas. "If you're not a risk-taker," he once said, "you should get the hell out of business."
Ross's early interest in cable television helped him envision
narrowcasting
Narrowcasting is the dissemination of information (usually via Internet, radio, newspaper, or television) to a narrow audience, rather than to the broader public at-large. Related to niche marketing or target marketing, narrowcasting involves aim ...
—cable channels created for specific audiences—
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
and
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
were expressly launched and developed to serve young audiences. Today, these two channels are still successful, and the cable television universe is now filled with hundreds of channels, specializing in many topics.
Other projects that Ross supported were not as successful as MTV and Nickelodeon, but certainly left a mark in television and helped shape the TV we are enjoying today. One important project was
QUBE
QUBE was an experimental two-way, multi-programmed cable television system that played a significant role in the history of American interactive television. It was launched in Columbus, Ohio, on December 1, 1977. Highly publicized as a revolution ...
. Qube was launched in 1977 in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
and was Ross' vision of how television could become interactive. Although this trial was not successful, it was an important step for what became known as advanced television. In some ways, the Qube project failed because it was ahead of its time. QUBE led to further attempts by
Warner
Warner can refer to:
People
* Warner (writer)
* Warner (given name)
* Warner (surname)
Fictional characters
* Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner, stars of the animated television series ''Animaniacs''
* Aaron Warner, a character in ''Shatter Me s ...
to integrate more services to cable television. Prominent among these was the Full Service Network that was launched in 1994 in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
.
Ross also supported
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
from 1977 to 1983, taking the first widely successful video game console to millions of homes around the world. For several years, Atari was a lucrative business for
Warner Communications
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
, but in 1983 it collapsed.
Although many of Ross' overly ambitious projects failed, some of these failures shaped future success in the video game and cable industries.
Soccer
Known for promoting and popularizing soccer in the United States, Ross was amongst the group of people who founded the
New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to
* New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada)
* New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...
in 1971. Backed by his employer Warner Communications, the club brought soccer superstars
Pelé
Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...
and
Franz Beckenbauer
Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...
Johan Neeskens
RCH may stand for:
* Radio Club de Honduras, an amateur radio organization
* Railway Clearing House, the British financial clearing house and technical standards bureau for railways
* The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal), a unit of the Canadian F ...
, and
Giorgio Chinaglia
Giorgio Chinaglia (; 24 January 1947 – 1 April 2012) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He grew up and played his early football in Cardiff, Wales, and began his career with Swansea Town in 1964. He later returned to Italy to ...
.
Ross was introduced to the sport during the late 1960s by one of his business executives
Nesuhi Ertegun
Nesuhi Ertegun ( Turkish spelling: Nesuhi Ertegün; November 26, 1917 – July 15, 1989) was a Turkish-American record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International.
Early life
Born in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire, Nesuhi ...
from
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
, the record company co-founded by Nesuhi's brother and also soccer enthusiast
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun (, Turkish spelling: Ahmet Ertegün; ; – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist.
Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and ch ...
. The two brothers worked for Ross in the early 1970s after Atlantic got bought in 1967 by
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. was a short-lived American entertainment company active from 1967 until 1969.
History
Seven Arts Productions acquired Jack L. Warner's controlling interest in Warner Bros. Pictures for $32 million in November 19 ...
that in turn got bought by Ross's
Kinney National Company
Kinney National Service, Inc. (later known as Kinney Services, Inc.) was an American conglomerate company from 1966 to 1972. Its successors were National Kinney Corporation and Warner Communications, Time Warner, AOL Time Warner, and WarnerMedia ...
two years later. When Nesuhi Ertegun had a business opportunity that would require leaving the company, Ross offered anything in an attempt to keep him. Ertegun expressed a desire to have a soccer club created and Ross, a fan of sports in general, obliged. Following the
1970 FIFA World Cup
The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May t ...
in Mexico that the Erteguns used to further establish contacts in the soccer world by throwing lavish parties, one of which was attended by Pelé, the brothers came back to New York and held Ross to his promise. In turn, Ross and longtime associate Jay Emmett reached out to eight other top executives and convinced them to contribute $35,000 each towards establishing a new soccer franchise that would compete in the struggling
North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to:
*North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league
*North American Soccer League (2011–2017)
The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...
.
Founding the New York Cosmos
The franchise called the
New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to
* New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada)
* New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...
was created in early 1971 with Englishman
Clive Toye
Clive Roy Toye (born Devonport, Plymouth, 23 November 1932) was inducted to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in the United States in 2003.
Toye was born in Plymouth, United Kingdom, to Thomas Roy Toye (1906–65) and Irene Turner. He was a spo ...
as its first general manager and 37-year-old
Gordon Bradley
Gordon Bradley (23 November 1933 – 29 April 2008) was an English-American soccer midfielder born and raised on Wearside who played several seasons with lower-division English clubs before moving to play in Canada at the age of 30. During the C ...
as the player/coach. Playing out their debut season in almost empty stadiums with virtually no media coverage, the Cosmos were a rag-tag semi-professional operation, but most importantly Ross was hooked and very much interested to see the team do well. Scared of losing money, the ten original investors sold their stake in the franchise to newly created Warner Communications (the company where Ross was CEO and chairman) for $1. Essentially, with the sale, Ross added the modest franchise to the vast media empire he was in charge of running.
Bringing Pelé to America
Following the first few seasons in obscurity, Ross decided that signing a big marquee name was the way forward to achieving greater prominence and ultimately securing the league's long-term dream—a network television deal.
The idea of bringing Pelé to America had actually been around for a while as NASL commissioner
Phil Woosnam
Phillip Abraham Woosnam (22 December 1932 – 19 July 2013) was a Welsh association football inside-right and manager. A native of Caersws, Powys, Wales, Woosnam played for five clubs in England and one in the United States. He played internat ...
and eventual Cosmos GM Clive Toye discussed it as far back as 1970 and even made an approach to the player in spring 1971, one month after the Cosmos had been formed. However, in 1975 with Ross willing to spend the big money, conditions were finally there to make the dream transfer happen. He sent Emmett, Toye, Cosmos vice-president Raphael de la Sierra, and Nesuhi Ertegun to Brazil where they met with 34-year-old Pelé at a seaside resort and played soccer with him on the beach. Since by this time
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
and
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
also started sniffing around Pelé in an attempt to bring him to Europe for the first time, the Cosmos delegation used the possibility of making soccer big in a country new to the sport as their main lure and by the end of the day, the Brazilian agreed in principle to come to New York. The actual negotiation with Warner Communications lawyer Norman Samnick, who was deployed to Brazil by Ross, turned out to be a little more difficult: Ross was willing to risk $2 million for three years of play while Pelé demanded $5 million for two years. In the end, the deal agreed was a complex five-part contract worth around $4.5 million in total that included $1 million for three years of play, $1 million for ten years of marketing rights, $1 million for a fourteen-year PR contract, and another $1 million for a music contract. Warner Communications money thus managed to lure arguably then still the biggest name in soccer out of retirement. In addition to huge amounts of money, due to Pelé's special status in Brazil as the country's national treasure, getting him to leave his homeland for the first time in his career involved a lot of politics as well, especially when the Brazilian president demanded that Pelé play another year in Brazil for the "good of his people". Ross called on his political connections in an attempt to soften the Brazilian government's position and eventually managed to get to the US Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
, who personally called his Brazilian counterpart telling him that Pelé's move to New York would be a huge step forward in the US–Brazil relations.
Pelé's arrival created a media sensation and overnight transformed the fortunes of soccer in the USA. From the moment he signed his contract at the
21 Club
The 21 Club, often simply 21, was a traditional American cuisine restaurant and former prohibition-era speakeasy, located at 21 West 52nd Street in New York City. Prior to its closure in 2020, the club had been active for 90 years, and it had h ...
on June 10, 1975 in front of ecstatic Ross and a crush of worldwide media, the player's every move was followed, bringing attention and credibility to the sport in America. His debut NASL match five days later versus
Dallas Tornado
The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons.
...
at the dilapidated
Downing Stadium
Downing Stadium, previously known as Triborough Stadium and Randall's Island Stadium, was a 22,000-seat stadium in New York City. It was renamed Downing Stadium in 1955 after John J. Downing, a director at the New York City Department of Parks an ...
on
Randall's Island
Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Islands, in New York County, New York City,
was broadcast live on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
network. It was the Cosmos tenth match of the
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
and led by the Brazilian, who recorded an assist and a goal, they managed to come back from two goals down for the 2–2 final score. The contest was also Pelé's first competitive match in eight months since his last outing with
Santos FC
Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a '' bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals i ...
in October 1974. He would eventually end up with 5 goals in his debut season during which his biggest challenge became figuring out how to fit into this team of journeymen players with abilities far inferior to his. Still his biggest impact was on the sport in New York and the rest of America as Cosmos' home attendance got tripled in just half the season he was there. They also played in front of huge crowds on the road since everyone wanted to see Pelé – towards the end of the season when he pulled a hamstring and couldn't suit up, 20,000 fans in Philadelphia showed up just to see him in street clothes. Furthermore, the league's profile got raised as other NASL teams – encouraged by Ross' investment in Pelé and the prominence his arrival brought to the Cosmos franchise – started bringing over more big-name aging foreign stars such as
George Best
George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...
who was about to turn 30, 31-year-old
Rodney Marsh
Rodney William Marsh (born 11 October 1944) is an English former footballer and football coach; he later worked as a broadcaster. A forward, he won nine caps for England between 1971 and 1973, scoring one international goal.
Brought up in the ...
, 34-year-old
Geoff Hurst
Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley St ...
, and 35-year-old
Bobby Moore
Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...
.
More big names arrive in New York
Since the Cosmos failed to make the playoffs in Pelé's debut season, for the next season, Ross decided to complement his superstar with more prominent names from overseas, the biggest of which was 29-year-old temperamental Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia from
S.S. Lazio
Società Sportiva Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club''), commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent ...
. The striker became an undeniable goal-scoring hit on the pitch with 19 goals in 19 league appearances that season, but his style of play as well as his egotistical and arrogant manner also got him many detractors both within and outside of the club. However, he endeared himself to Ross as the two soon became very close friends. Due to increased interest, the team moved to Yankee Stadium. Though the Brazilian midfield organizer and the Italian striker quickly developed an uneasy relationship, thanks to their assists and goals, respectively, the club managed to make the playoffs, losing to underdogs
Tampa Bay Rowdies
The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Champions ...
led by Rodney Marsh in the conference semifinal series 3 games to 1. Pelé still got the league MVP honors and Chinaglia became the league's top goalscorer. Though furious over the early playoff exit, Ross immediately took the team on an exhibition summer tour of Europe with stops to play friendly games in England, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy. Though hugely expensive, the tour generated plenty of publicity for Warner Communications.
The 1977 NASL season—Pelé's final season before retirement—began at the newly built
Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted sp ...
in New Jersey as New York Cosmos dropped "New York" from its name to become just the Cosmos. With the new giant home, Ross decided to Americanize the experience of going to a Cosmos game with cheerleaders, halftime show, and mascots. On the field, however, the squad got internationalized even further with a roster that had players from every corner of the world. Attendance rose slightly to just over 20,000 in the first five games (3 of which Cosmos lost), but still not enough to Ross' liking. In search of more people in the seats, Ross decided to raise the bar again. He reached for the checkbook midway through the season and looked oversees for more big stars, signing 31-year-old German superstar Franz Beckenbauer from
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
in May 1977. The German's debut was a 4–2 loss away at Tampa while the following week Cosmos beat Toronto at home in front of 31,000 fans. Ross was happy with the attendance increase, but wanted even more and to that end enlisted celebrities that did business with Warner Communications to make publicized appearances at Cosmos home games. People like
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...
,
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
,
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...
,
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...
,
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
,
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
,
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
,
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
,
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
, etc. became a regular sight in the Cosmos locker room and in the luxury boxes at the Giants Stadium. Other changes were in order too as general manager Toye and head coach Bradley got fired and Tampa Bay's
Eddie Firmani
Edwin Ronald "Eddie" Firmani (; born 7 August 1933) is a former professional football player and manager. A former forward, he spent most of his career in Italy and England. Born in South Africa, he represented the Italy national team internat ...
became the new coach. The team's striker Chinaglia was said to be the driving influence on Ross to hire Chinaglia's good friend Firmani as Chinaglia and Ross developed a personal relationship. Chinaglia thrived under Firmani, scoring goals one after another. The team's play as well as the attendance also started to pick up – led by Pele's hat-trick, the Cosmos finally managed to avenge the losses to Tampa Bay by beating them at home in front 62,394 fans. However, this was followed by another inexplicable dip in form with five losses in seven games. Ross reacted immediately, throwing more big money into the squad, signing Brazil national team's former inspirational captain defender Carlos Alberto who was about to turn 33 years of age. He joined the squad with only four games remaining in the 1977 regular season. By this time, the attendance was rising sharply as the team as well as the league started to catch major buzz. The summer of 1977 was the franchise's first true foray into big time: on August 14, the Giants Stadium was sold out for the Cosmos first game of the playoffs against
Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to:
*Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983
*Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994), member of American Soccer League from 1988 to 1989 and American Profes ...
with 77,691 people in the stands. The Cosmos finally won the title defeating
Seattle Sounders
Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club w ...
in the Soccer Bowl during late August as Beckenbauer became league MVP and Pelé retired in style.
Heading US bid to host the 1986 FIFA World Cup
In November 1982, when Colombia, the originally selected
host
A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it.
Host may also refer to:
Places
* Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County
People
*Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman
* Michel Host ...
of the
1986 FIFA World Cup
The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...
, gave up on organizing the event, for economic reasons, Ross called upon all his soccer connections and campaigned hard to bring the tournament to the US including meeting with FIFA president
João Havelange
Jean-Marie Faustin Godefroid "João" de Havelange (, ; 8 May 1916 – 16 August 2016) was a Brazilian lawyer, businessman, athlete and centenarian who served as the seventh president of FIFA from 1974 to 1998. His tenure as president is the ...
, but in May 1983
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
decided on Mexico as the replacement host. The United States eventually hosted the World Cup in 1994.
Personal life
Ross was married three times:
*In 1953 he married Carol Rosenthal, daughter of
Edward Rosenthal
Edward Rosenthal (1903–1991) was a former vice chairman of Warner Communications and president/owner of the Jewish funeral home chain, Riverside Memorial Chapel.East Hampton, New York. They had two children, Sara and Noah.
**Mark Ross, the co-founder with
Sir George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beat ...
of music production company, GrandMaster Music. Mark Ross had two children with his wife Cinthia: Caroline Ross (born 2002) and Brian Ross (born 2001).
*In 1980 he married Amanda (née Mortimer) Burden, the daughter of Barbara (née Cushing) Mortimer (who later married CBS chairman,
William S. Paley
William Samuel Paley (September 28, 1901 – October 26, 1990) was an American businessman, primarily involved in the media, and best known as the chief executive who built the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from a small radio network into o ...
). They divorced 16 months later.
*In 1982 he married Courtney Sale, daughter of a prosperous Bryan, Texas, family. She dated Ross before his marriage to Amanda Burden and upon their divorce, they rekindled the relationship, eventually marrying. They remained married until his death in 1992. They had a daughter, Nicole.
Death
Ross died on December 20, 1992, due to complications of
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
, from which he suffered in his final years.
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
dedicated his
Best Picture Oscar
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category ...
, which he won for ''
Unforgiven
''Unforgiven'' is a 1992 American Revisionist Western film starring, directed, and produced by Clint Eastwood, and written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job, ...
'', in Ross's memory.
Legacy
Warner Bros. Studios
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
has named its theater on the backlot of its historic Burbank studio property in honor of their longtime boss, and the UJA-Federation's Entertainment, Media & Communication Division has recognized Ross' commitment to philanthropy by naming the humanitarian award at its annual Leadership Award Dinner in his honor.
Awards and honors
In 1988, Ross was the recipient of the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement
The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...
.
See also
* ''Master of the Game: Steve Ross and the Creation of Time Warner'' by Connie Bruck (Simon & Schuster, 1994)
* ''Once in a Life Time: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos'' (Paul Crowder and John Dower, 2006)