Stephen Ross’s plan to market foreign soccer teams’ regular-season matches in the US got a boost as a court revived an antitrust suit brought against two of the sport’s governing bodies.
A federal appeals court in Manhattan on Tuesday gave new life to the efforts by Ross’s Relevent Sports Group, overturning a lower court’s ruling against the firm. 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.
Brazil plays Peru at the International Champions Cup in Los Angeles in September 2019.
Photographer: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
“Business, professional, trade, and sports organizations and associations, ...