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Jury sides with MLS, USSF in NASL anti-trust suit - ESPN

A federal jury has found in favor of the U.S. Soccer Federation and MLS in the antitrust lawsuit filed against the two entities by the North American Soccer League.

The verdict, which the NASL will likely appeal, amounts to a significant victory for the USSF and MLS, and is the culmination of a seven-year process that began in September of 2017, when the USSF denied the NASL's application to be classified as a Division 2 league. The NASL filed its lawsuit shortly thereafter, initially asking for $500 million in damages, though Judge Hector Gonzalez later reduced the potential damages to $375 million.

The NASL, the second American league to use that name, operated from 2011-17 as a second tier league underneath MLS. But it went on hiatus in 2018 following the USSF's aforementioned decision.

The verdict was decided after three weeks of testimony that included appearances by former USSF president Sunil Gulati, MLS commissioner Don Garber, former Puerto Rico Islanders owner and NBA star Carmelo Anthony, New York Cosmos owner Rocco Commisso — who personally provided much of the funding for the litigation — as well as former Traffic Sports executive Aaron Davidson.

The NASL's complaint alleged that the USSF violated federal antitrust laws through its anticompetitive «Division» structure that divides men's professional soccer for U.S.-based leagues on what an NASL press release described as «arbitrary criteria that the USSF has manipulated to favor Major League Soccer (MLS), which is the commercial business partner of the USSF.» At the time, Soccer United Marketing, the marketing arm of MLS was in charge of managing the USSF's media rights.

The division structure, via the application of the USSF's Professional League Standards

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