Youth Soccer Club Lawsuit against Players and the Union Dismissed

The youth soccer clubs sued the Players Union, Clint Dempsey, DeAndre Yedlin, and Michael Bradley, and yesterday the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas dismissed the case against all defendants.  Dallas Texans Soccer Club, et al. v. MLS Players Union, et al., U.S. District Court, E.D. Texas, Case No. 4:16-CV-00464

As part of their efforts to collect training compensation and solidarity payments under FIFA's regulations, the youth clubs' lawsuit asked the court to find that the collection of those payments would not violate antitrust laws.

MLS Players Union Executive Director Bob Foose commented as follows:

"We have said consistently that training compensation and solidarity payments are bad for players, and would treat players differently than employees in any other industry, including sports.  For example, it's absurd to think that a business school could demand a fee from a company that hired one of its students.  Yet, that's the kind of payments the youth clubs seek.

No player should have the market for his services adversely affected by these payments.  This is not to say that players and the Players Union don't believe in and support youth development.  We do, but it should not be funded through a tax on randomly selected professional players' contracts.  We have said all along that we do not understand why the youth clubs sued players and their union, and we certainly do not believe that the suit was filed in the appropriate court.  We're very satisfied that the Court has agreed and brought this case to a close by dismissing it in its entirety."