Eight years ago, the North American Soccer League, which ran between 2011 and 2017, sued the U.S. Soccer Federation, alleging it had broken competitive laws. It had pressed for an order that would have forced U.S. Soccer to declare NASL a Division II category. Following judge choice, the case will go to test this week in a Brooklyn federal court, which will include Major League Soccer as a co-defendant.
High-profile figures, including retired NBA all-star Carmelo Anthony ( who owned Puerto Rico FC in the NASL ) and Kansas City Chiefs CEO and co-owner Clark Hunt ( a founder of MLS), could be called to testify. Potential damages of more than$ 500 million are at stake with an all-star list of sports attorneys representing the two parties.

The controversy centers on U.S. Soccer’s control over professional sports leagues and how the organization uses standards to determine whether a division has received Division I, II, or III reputation.
According to NASL, U.S. Soccer and MLS conspired illegally to prevent MLS ( Division I ) and the USL ( Division II ) from battling one another in ways that endangered the relevant markets for FIFA sanctioned soccer in the United States and Canada. NSL accuses U.S. Soccer and MLS of “driving it out of company” and of “preventing it from obtaining the income it would have received as a Division I or II rival.”
NASL chose to stop operating rather than engage in Division III, the lowest amount.
Whether and how a group is sanctioned influences how people, fans, consumers, broadcasters and media see the team’s legitimacy and choices of leagues available to them. People also take into account whether a sanctioned squad allows them to participate in FIFA-approved games and competitions as well as the U.S. National Team.
U. S. Soccer and MLS offer a very unique representation of what happened. Given that NASL “never turned a profit, not had a television deal that paid it cash, never signed a sponsorship agreement that generated any significant revenue, and had a history of recurrent team failures,” U.S. Soccer claims the case is “overreach.”
The club’s national governing body even contends it properly and honestly applied standards, such as maximum stadium seating capacity, number of teams, time zone coverage and another benchmarks, in assessing NASL’s credentials. These standards are intended to make sure that professional soccer and its supporters have access to what U.S. Soccer refers to as a “healthy ecosystem.”

Further, U. S. Soccer maintains there was no agreement between MLS and U. S. Soccer’s board of directors, whom U. S. Soccer depicts as disinterested and fair, to deny NASL. The denials occurred because NASL was unable and/or unwilling to follow standards and made insufficient progress toward meeting those standards, from the perspective of U.S. Soccer. U. S. Soccer also attributes NASL’s problems in part to its “association” with figures implicated in the FIFA corruption scandal. NASL, of course, contests these descriptions.
U.S. District Judge Hector Gonzalez of the Eastern District of New York will preside over the trial, which is expected to last a few weeks. Cindy Cone, former MLS commissioner Sunil Gulati, and former MLS commissioner Don Garber are among the other potential witnesses. Each could offer insight into the economics of soccer and how the soccer-related market has changed throughout North America.
According to court documents, potential damages could triple if NASL is successful in proving antitrust violations under the antitrust law’s trebling feature to$ 516 million ( damages could also end up significantly lower, especially if NASL is found to have failed to mitigate damages ). The trial loser may file an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which would leave the case on the docket for several more years.
The two parties have put together a number of well-known and well-known legal teams. Jeffrey Kessler of Winston &amp, Strawn is one of NASL’s attorneys. Kessler has represented plaintiffs in major sports litigations, including the Alston and House antitrust cases against the NCAA, the U. S. Women’s National Team players in the ( now settled ) equal pay case against U. S. Soccer, and the 23XI Racing, which is owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, in the antitrust case against NASCAR.
Meanwhile, Christopher S. Yates of Latham &amp, Watkins is one of U. S. Soccer’s attorneys. He’s not a stranger to Kessler, as Yates represents NASCAR in the aforementioned antitrust dispute. In addition, Yates has litigated legal matters for the UFC, the NWSL, the ACC, and other major sports clients. As for MLS, it has retained Bradley I. Ruskin of Proskauer Rose. In court cases, Ruskin has represented such well-known sports clients as the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, the Washington Nationals, and Philadelphia Eagles.