The Los Angeles Galaxy is beginning to look a lot the New York Cosmos of the NASL, says J Hutcherson of USSoccerPlayers. First Becks, then the media, then the red carpet at Home Depot and the celebrities, and now, the team is getting to charter its own flights. Soon, Galaxy members and staff will have a permanent table reserved for them at the Viper Room.
Says Hutcherson: “For those of you that thought we were well past the point of the NASL comparison, the push for super status and the super treatment that comes with it has us right back in the summer of ’75.” A month after Becks touched down, the Galaxy has started acting like a super club, just like Pele’s New York Cosmos. But this, Hutcherson points out, is a single-entity league. The Cosmos management could do whatever it wished because the league didn’t own it. Not so, with the Galaxy. Nevertheless, the team is already receiving special treatment.
In the team’s defense, GM Alexi Lalas says that chartering its own plane is about security. After all, there is some very special cargo on board. “We’re not just bringing one of the biggest athletes in the world, but also one of the most famous people in the world,” he said. “This is appropriate right now for our team.”