The US Supreme Court asked the Biden administration for input on a lawsuit accusing two soccer governing bodies of illegally thwarting billionaire Stephen Ross’s efforts to stage regular-season matches in the US between foreign teams.
The move signals high court interest in United States Soccer Federation Inc.’s bid for review of a federal appeals court decision that allowed antitrust claims by Ross’s Relevent Sports LLC. The company’s suit accuses US Soccer and FIFA of enforcing an anticompetitive policy that divides geographic markets and restricts access to the game.
Ross has been trying for years to arrange a regular-season match between two top foreign teams, including a proposed Barcelona-Girona showdown in Miami in 2018. Relevent says US Soccer and FIFA nixed the plan because they wanted to protect Major League Soccer’s monopoly on regular-season games in the American market.
Billionaire Steve Ross Wins a Second Shot at Soccer Ambitions
FIFA’s policy making body eventually adopted a written policy barring regular-season games outside an affiliated league’s home territory. FIFA is the international soccer governing body.
The Supreme Court directed its request Monday to US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration’s top courtroom lawyer.
The case is US Soccer Federation v. Relevent Sports, 23-120.
