NASL amends lawsuit against U.S. Soccer, seeking damages and adding MLS as defendant

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Mar 18, 2018

Having failed in its bid to get a preliminary injunction to maintain its Division 2 sanctioning and now down to three active teams but no plans to play a league schedule in 2018, the NASL has filed an amended complaint in its antitrust lawsuit against U.S. Soccer.

Previously, it sought a permanent injunction to ban U.S. Soccer from using Professional League Standards, the core of its divisional designations in its sanctioning of pro leagues.

To its request for a permanent injunction, the NASL has added a request for damages caused by what it alleges are the anti-competitive practices of U.S Soccer and MLS, which has also been added as a defendant.

In a statement, the NASL tries to use a statement by new U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro during the recent election against the federation. Cordeiro said "the unique ownership of SUM creates conflicts that need to be addressed."

The federation has prevailed so far in its case with the NASL on its governance practices related to conflicts requiring board members to recuse themselves on decisions related to issues involving MLS.

"The focus of the antitrust suit to date was obtaining a preliminary injunction to save the 2018 season, which ultimately was not possible," NASL interim commissioner Rishi Sehgal said in a statement. "The harm to competition and damages caused by losing the 2018 season are being felt far and wide as our business has been ground to a halt and fans, players, sponsors, vendors and all of the stakeholders who play a role in bringing the NASL to life are being negatively impacted."