They were provisionally sanctioned in February, which is good enough for now. Sanctioning decisions seem to be made around that time of year. (I think the Solomon-like bit with USL and NASL was in December, but that was a bigger deal.) As long as they don't completely trip over their own feet in the fall, they should be able to at least get provisionally sanctioned again It's D3, it's not a super high bar.
The NASL antitrust lawsuit and the FIFA corruption case have always been connected b/c former NASL Board chair Aaron Davidson plead guilty in the FIFA case. A motion recently filed in the NASL case hints that this connection may be more explicit (thread)— Steven Bank (@ProfBank) August 22, 2019 As part of discovery, Davidson's attorneys apparently handed over to USSF and MLS' attorneys the final draft of a cooperation agreement he subsequently signed with the DOJ in the FIFA case (for which he is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 3, 2019)— Steven Bank (@ProfBank) August 22, 2019 As part of discovery, Davidson's attorneys apparently handed over to USSF and MLS' attorneys the final draft of a cooperation agreement he subsequently signed with the DOJ in the FIFA case (for which he is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 3, 2019)— Steven Bank (@ProfBank) August 22, 2019
The letter motion is heavily (and I mean "heavily") redacted on what the cooperation agreement actually says, but USSF and MLS assert that it rebuts NASL's claims pic.twitter.com/D6jjoY6Pk9— Steven Bank (@ProfBank) August 22, 2019 Davidson's attorneys realized their mistake and requested to "clawback" the cooperation agreement draft, asserting that it is privileged lawyer-client communication and it's not responsive to the discovery request anyway— Steven Bank (@ProfBank) August 22, 2019 On the privilege claim, USSF and MLS assert that the cooperation agreement was the final draft submitted that day to the DOJ, at which point privilege was waived. pic.twitter.com/jYvAnsmlJS— Steven Bank (@ProfBank) August 22, 2019
I think that, technically, no. Just because NASL was involved in criminal activity doesn't mean that there aren't anti-trust issues with USSF. However, NASL will have a hard time proving that USSF's actions were anti-competitive.
No, but makes much harder for them to play the victim when it’s shown how many self inflicting wounds they have themselves.
I listened to Rocco Commisso on Rai Italian TV today taking about Fiorentina's game yesterday. He seemed to know the language fairly well although with a typical NYC , Italian -American accent occasionally throwing in the words "you know" ever other sentence. It actually sounded kind of funny. I didn't hear the entire interview but I think I heard him mention the NASL and the Cosmos but not sure what was said.
Yes but Commisso's family spoke a distinct Calabrese dialect from Reggio which isn't at all similar to the main Italian spoken language. Unless you are from the region, not many people can really understand it. He also left Italy when he was 12 years of age. He speaks ok now and I'm sure taking Italian 101 at Columbia helped a little but he still has a very heavy accent and makes many mistakes. His family actually lived right near my uncle and cousins in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica.
That doesn't mean he wouldn't have learned the main Italian spoken language while he was growing up.. It isn't uncommon for areas with regional dialects to be taught the main dialect in school and/or to learn it through national media sources. Another influence would be where he ended up when he moved to the US. If his parents went to a place with a large Italian community, he may have heard and spoke a decent amount of main Italian while in the US. Granted, it being 50-60 years since then will cause degredation, but he's also likely getting a crash course in Italian since buying the team.
It's certainly possible but aside from scoring PR points I dont think it will yield much of anything financially. Davidson has already handed over large sums of money to the DoJ and IRS as a result of his guilty plea and his ongoing effort to avoid incarceration. The same parties pretty much cleaned out Chuck Blazer and Jeff Webb, and the former head of Traffic paid something like $150 million in fines to avoid jail. I cant believe Davidson has much left.
When I lived there, the locals in that region, usually only spoke the local dialect or "il dialetto reggino". In school most kids have to speak Italian but still revert to speaking their dialect at home and with friends. I'm sure living in the US among other Italians or within the Italian community, he learned to speak the colloquial language. Most nationals immigrating had no choice but to speak the main language as they for the most part, interacted with other Italians who all spoke differently and no one knows or knew the local dialects. Listening to him speak, his Italian actually sounds pretty bad. Being worth $5 billion though, it probably doesn't matter either way. Especially not in Florence as the city is welcoming him with open arms for buying the club from Diego Della Valle and they all love his wealth.
NISA gets started this week. 2019 NISA Showcase Weeks 1-3 Home team first, times are ET. Streams? Maybe. Week 1 Saturday, August 31 Oakland Roots v. Cal United Strikers 9:00 pm Week 2 Saturday, September 7 Philadelphia Fury v. Stumptown Athletic 7:00 pm LA Force v. San Diego 1904 FC 10:00 pm Week 3 Saturday, September 14 Atlanta SC v. Stumptown Athletic 7:00 pm San Diego 1904 FC v. Cal United Strikers 10:00 pm Sunday, September 15 Miami FC v. Philadelphia Fury 7:00 pm According to the NISA website https://www.nisaofficial.com/schedule, the eight teams will play 6 or 7 regular season games this fall. The NISA regular season ends on November 2. The East and West championship games are November 16.
Franklin Field will welcome the return of professional soccer to Philadelphia https://www.thedp.com/article/2019/...ld-philadelphia-fury-professional-soccer-nisa
I don't know. With all of these neverending lawsuits, the NASL could end up being the Henrietta Lacks of sports leagues. Not really a league, but also not completely dead.