Stephen Ross’s plan to market high-profile soccer matches between top foreign teams in the US got a boost as a court revived an antitrust suit one of his companies brought against two of the sport’s governing bodies.
(Bloomberg) — Stephen Ross’s plan to market high-profile soccer matches between top foreign teams in the US got a boost as a court revived an antitrust suit one of his companies brought against two of the sport’s governing bodies.
In a win for the billionaire’s soccer promotion agency Relevent Sports Group, the federal appeals court in Manhattan overturned a lower court that had shot down Relevent’s lawsuit for failing to allege an antitrust conspiracy. On Tuesday, the three-judge appellate panel found it was plausible that FIFA and United States Soccer Federation Inc. are enforcing an anticompetitive policy that divides geographic markets and restricts access to the game.
“Business, professional, trade, and sports organizations and associations, for instance, are all subject to federal antitrust laws if their members demonstrate ‘a conscious commitment to a common scheme designed to achieve an unlawful objective,’” US Circuit Judge Raymond Lohier wrote for the panel.
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Relevent Chief Executive Officer Danny Sillman greeted the ruling as “an important victory for both American soccer and the global growth of the game.”
“By paving the way for the best teams and players from football clubs around the world to compete in competitive matches in the United States, more fans will have the chance to witness the sport being played at its highest level and directly experience all that it has to offer,” Sillman said in a statement, adding that Relevent still has to litigate its claims.
FIFA said in a statement that it had “taken note of today’s decision” and would review it before deciding on its next steps. A representative of US Soccer wasn’t available for comment on the reversal.
Relevent filed the suit in 2019 after its efforts to host official season games between overseas teams in the US were denied by the FIFA Council due to a 2018 policy, according to Tuesday’s opinion. In dismissing the complaint, the district court held that Relevent had failed to allege a horizontal conspiracy between US Soccer and FIFA.
It found “there was neither an antecedent ‘agreement to agree’ among the defendants to adopt the policy, nor any circumstantial evidence of an agreement among the members of the FIFA Council” to adopt it, Lohier wrote.
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Ross, who is founder and chairman of real estate developer Related Cos. and who also owns the Miami Dolphins football team, has spent millions of dollars to increase access and profitability in the US soccer industry over the past decade. Relevent has presented the International Champions Cup, a preseason competition between European soccer clubs hosted in US stadiums, since 2013. In February 2022, it won the broadcasting rights for European soccer’s governing body UEFA, which it vowed to sell for at least $250 million a year, to beat out Octagon and IMG.
Ross’s football team was sued by former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who claims he was denied the top coaching spot with the New York Giants because of racial discrimination. As part of that litigation, Flores alleged that Ross offered to pay him $100,000 for each game the team lost during the 2019 season, to improve its draft pick position, and pressured him to recruit superstar quarterback Tom Brady in violation of league anti-tampering rules. Ross denied the claims.
The judge overseeing the case last week ordered Flores to take his allegations against the Dolphins to arbitration.
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In August, Ross was suspended by the National Football League after an investigation found the team’s attempt to lure Brady and Sean Payton broke the rule. The probe found no evidence of the tanking allegation.
The soccer case is Relevent Sports LLC v. United States Soccer Federation, 21-2088, 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.
–With assistance from Natalie Wong, Gerry Smith, Chris Dolmetsch and Bob Van Voris.
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