U.S. Soccer and MLS trial nears end as league and federation defend $500M NASL lawsuit

The $500million antitrust lawsuit filed by the North American Soccer League against the U.S. Soccer Federation and Major League Soccer is nearing its end, with jury deliberations to begin on Monday.

After a three-week trial, the 10-person jury will weigh whether NASL has proven in court its allegation that MLS and U.S. Soccer violated antitrust laws by conspiring to create an anticompetitive environment, directly resulting in the league’s failure. If the jury weighs in the defunct league’s favor, it may be owed millions in damages.

The antitrust trial, held in the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, has offered a deep dive into the convoluted world of American soccer, as witnesses testified on the rise of MLS, and private communications between some of the most powerful figures in the sport were shown to the jury.

The jury trial ended on Friday after a full day of closing statements, wrapping three weeks of testimonies with hours-long summations by each side. NASL has maintained the alleged parties conspired against the defunct league to deny its divisional sanctionings, which it needed to compete.

“What we have alleged is the conspiracy is between Major League Soccer and the U.S. Soccer Federation as entities to conspire to apply the DI standards to keep NASL or any other league from coming in,” attorney Jeffrey Kessler, of Winston & Strawn, representing NASL, told the jury.

His client also alleged a conspiracy between MLS and USL, which kept NASL from receiving its DII sanctioning. The two leagues had a partnership, before MLS proceeded to create a D3 league now known as MLS Next Pro.

“That’s what the evidence shows,” Kessler said, during his 3-hour closing on Friday.

But the co-defendants have maintained that NASL has failed to provide any direct evidence of this alleged conspiracy, which they say has changed various times over the course of the trial.

“One thing we hope is crystal clear is that NASL failed to show any evidence — zero evidence — of a conspiracy,” attorney Chris Yates, of Latham & Watkins, representing USSF, told the jury during his closing statement. “If (the conspiracy) is that hard to explain, if it involves a revolving cast of characters, then it did not happen.”

In 2017, USSF denied NASL’s DII sanctioning for the 2018 season, and the league eventually folded. NASL filed a lawsuit a few weeks later against USSF alleging antitrust violations. That complaint was later amended to include MLS as a co-defendant. Years earlier, NASL had applied for DI sanctioning, which USSF also denied.

NASL has alleged that the two entities conspired through the close relationship between MLS Commissioner Don Garber and former USSF president Sunil Gulati. Gulati had worked with MLS, serving as its deputy commissioner from 1995 through 1999, before stepping down and returning to the league’s boardroom as president of Kraft Soccer, which ran New England Revolution. The two maintained a close personal and professional relationship, as testified to in court.

But the co-defendants paint a vastly different picture, saying the close relationship between MLS and USSF helped build the foundation of soccer in the United States. The sport is widely successful today because of it, they argued. They also argue that the USSF board members who voted to deny NASL’s sanctioning were independent from Garber or Gulati. Some of the voting members’ depositions were shown to the jury in court through video testimony.

“NASL wants you to believe — needs you to believe … that these people lied under oath,” Bradley Ruskin, of Proskauer Rose and representing MLS, told the jury. “And the accusation, like the crusade against the MLS, is offensive.”

Attorneys have stressed NASL was far from a “competitive threat” to MLS, and NASL’s undoing was instead of its own accord, largely tied to poor league management and the criminal indictment of the league’s largest investor, Aaron Davidson, who was linked to the 2015 FIFA bribery scandal. The defendants called NASL team owners to testify, who shared stories of poor finances, troubles hailing from Davidson’s indictment and a disdain for the league’s decision to file a lawsuit against USSF.

One of the tensest moments of the trial came when Rocco Commisso took the stand as a witness for NASL. The owner of the New York Cosmos and Mediacom’s chief executive is funding a majority of the lawsuit, as revealed in court. It was also revealed that the billionaire had a burner Twitter account, which he used to threaten the co-defendants as well as others, like Fox Sports’ soccer analyst and former USMNT player Alexi Lalas, after he criticized Commisso.

The final week of the trial proved contentious, with co-defendants filing a motion that, if U.S. District Judge Hector Gonzalez had ruled in their favor, would have ended the trial last week before the case ever reached the jury.

After NASL rested their case, attorneys for U.S. Soccer and MLS filed a motion asking Gonzalez to make an immediate judgment on the grounds NASL failed to provide any “direct evidence” of a conspiracy. They also strongly rebuked NASL’s expert witnesses, especially economist Darrel Williams, who the defense called unreliable. Kessler acknowledged their case was “circumstantial.” Gonzalez allowed the case to proceed, but cautioned Kessler ahead of his closing statements.

The three-week trial has put American soccer under an unusual microscope. It featured celebrity testimonies from unlikely sources such as 10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony, owner of Puerto Rico FC in NASL, and Clark Hunt, whose family owns the Super Bowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs and FC Dallas in MLS.

No matter the verdict, the case is likely to continue through appeals, which could add years to the already long legal battle between NASL, USSF and MLS.

(Top photo: Jewel Samad / AFP via Getty Images)

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6109394/2025/02/03/mls-nasl-trial-garber/

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