In an omnibus opinion, a federal judge has rendered multiple rulings in the long- running antitrust and Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) case pitting ChampionsWorld LLC, a now bankrupt promoter of international exhibition soccer matches, against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and Major League Soccer (MLS).
For background purposes: ChampionsWorld LLC sued the USSF and MLS on May 2, 2006, claiming that the Federation took advantage of ChampionsWorld by charging exorbitant fees and favoring the plaintiff’s competitor, MLS. Specifically, ChampionsWorld alleged that, “through such anticompetitive, fraudulent, and extortionate acts, the defendants caused ChampionsWorld severe financial harm ultimately leading to bankruptcy.” Despite the bankruptcy, ChampionsWorld’s reorganization plan provided for the commencement and prosecution of its lawsuit as its only remaining material asset, to be liquidated and distributed among its creditors.
The latest opinion dealt with USSF’s Petition to Confirm an Arbitral Award; the plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment; the defendants’ motion to exclude the expert opinion of Rodney Fort; and the defendants’ motions for summary judgment on the plaintiff’s antitrust, RICO, and state law claims.
The court confirmed the arbitral award as well as the defendants’ various other motions. Meanwhile, it denied the plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment.
Pivotal to the court’s rulings was its exclusion of Fort’s opinion, which undercut ChampionsWorld’s arguments.
Not surprisingly, the firms of the defendants claimed victory.
“In ruling in favor of US Soccer, the court enforced and then relied upon a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport issued in July 2011 in connection with this case,” noted Latham & Watkins LLP, which was led by Los Angeles litigation partner Russell Sauer in representing the Federation. “It confirmed that, as a national association member of FIFA, the world governing body for soccer, US Soccer had the authority to sanction and charge fees for such international exhibition matches involving FIFA-affiliated clubs and teams.”
Proskauer noted that the opinion was “an important victory for Major League Soccer LLC (MLS),” its client.
“In ruling in favor of MLS, Judge Leinenweber dismissed ChampionsWorld’s antitrust claim, holding that the company could not meet the threshold requirements to prove the claim after finding that ChampionsWorld’s economic expert’s opinion was ‘neither sufficiently reliable nor sufficiently helpful.’
“Judge Leinenweber also enforced a July 2011 decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled that the USSF, as a national association member of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world governing body for soccer, had the authority to sanction and charge fees for international exhibition soccer matches promoted by ChampionsWorld in the United States. He further held that ChampionsWorld’s RICO claim failed because, as the CAS ruling made clear, USSF had sanctioning authority over the matches at issue and therefore neither defendant could have misrepresented whether USSF had such authority.”
ChampionsWorld, LLC v. United States Soccer Federation, INC., Major League Soccer, LLC and DOES 1 through 10; N.D. Ill.; Case No 06 C 5724, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116380; 8/17/12
Attorneys of Record: (for plaintiff) Ronald Hanley Balson, LEAD ATTORNEY, Stone, Pogrund & Korey LLC, Chicago, IL; Jamie M. Brickell, Maryaneh Simonian, William Laurence Charron, Pryor Cashman L.L.P., New York, NY. (for United States Soccer Federation, Inc., defendant) Casandra Leann Thomson, LEAD ATTORNEY, Latham & Watkins LLP, Los Angeles, CA; Adam Wright, Charles H. Samel, Michael Elisofon, PRO HAC VICE, Russell F. Sauer, Jr., Latham & Watkins, L.L.P., Los Angeles, CA; Christopher S. Yates, PRO HAC VICE, Latham & Watkins Llp, San Francisco, CA; Livia McCammon Kiser, Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP, Chicago, IL; Timothy Bunker Hardwicke, Latham & Watkins LLP, Chicago, IL. (for Major League Soccer, L.L.C., defendant) Bradley I. Ruskin, Jennifer R. Scullion, Scott Arthur Eggers, Proskauer Rose LLP (New York), New York, NY; Casandra Leann Thomson, Latham & Watkins LLP, Los Angeles, CA; Catherine J. Spector, Sheri D. Davis, Steven Ross Gilford, Proskauer Rose LLP (70W), Chicago, IL; Colin R. Kass, PRO HAC VICE, Proskauer Rose Llp, Washington, DC; Jordan B. Leader, Proskauer Rose, New York, NY.
