NASL's prolonged battle with U.S. Soccer

Tuesday was a sad day for U.S. Soccer. The North American Soccer League (NASL) announced it is cancelling the 2018 season, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit denied the NASL's appeal for an injunction that would temporarily reinstate its Div. II league status — which the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) revoked in September — for 2018.

In a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, presiding Judge Margo Brodie wrote that the NASL would suffer "irreparable harm" as a result of losing its Div. II status.

The NASL was reduced to only four teams from the 2017 season: The San Francisco Deltas and FC Edmonton folded, while the Indy Eleven and North Carolina FC moved to the United Soccer League (USL) — a league that is sanctioned with Div. II status. Two newcomers to the league, California United FC from Orange County and San Diego 1904 FC, were set to make it six teams total — half of the required amount for a Div. II league, according to the USSF’s sanctioning requirements. Now, those teams are scrambling to other leagues like the USL and the National Premier Soccer League, a league seen by many as an unofficial fourth division, but not recognized by U.S. Soccer.

In early October, then-USSF president Sunil Gulati gave the NASL an ultimatum: If the NASL could demonstrate that it could field eight "economically viable and separately owned" teams in 2018 and 12 by 2020, the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors would reconsider its decision. The NASL balked, deferring to an ongoing lawsuit that would lift professional league standards.

Another lawsuit, filed by the NASL in February against members of the USSF Board of Directors, alleges that members motivated by "economic considerations" breached their fiduciary duties to the NASL, and that they refused to sanction the NASL as a Div. II league to protect their positions in Major League Soccer (MLS) and its marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing.

An NASL statement proclaimed that the lawsuit was for "the long-term advancement of soccer in this country, not only for the NASL, but for all soccer fans, clubs and communities impacted by the USSF’s restrictions on competition."

The USSF’s mission statement is "to make soccer, in all its forms, a preeminent sport in the United States and to continue the development of soccer at all recreational and competitive levels." But as I’ve written before, the cozy relationship between MLS and U.S. Soccer has led to conflicts of interest to the detriment of their mission statement.

The death of the NASL is just another step backward for U.S. Soccer, exposing its disorganized, fragmented culture. Newly elected USSF president Carlos Cordeiro is a defendant in the NASL’s lawsuit, so it is unlikely that he will make meaningful efforts to correct the Federation’s past mistakes.

A potential transformative step forward, though, is just around the corner, but a country in North Africa is in the way and Donald Trump isn’t helping. Check back next week for an analysis of the United States’ bid for the 2026 World Cup.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly mischaracterized Judge Brodie’s decision as from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The decision was made by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The article has been updated to reflect this change. The Daily regrets this error.