.
The
Associations
shall
insert
a
clause
in
their
statutes
or
regulations,
stipulating
that
it
is
prohibited
to
take
disputes
in
the
Association
or
disputes
affecting
Leagues,
members
of
Leagues,
Clubs,
members
of
Clubs,
Players,
Officials
and
other
Association
Officials
to
ordinary
courts
of
law,
unless
the
FIFA
regulations
or
binding
legal
provisions
specifically
provide
for
or
stipulate
recourse
to
ordinary
courts
of
law.
Instead
of
recourse
to
ordinary
courts
of
law,
provision
shall
be
made
for
arbitration.
Such
disputes
shall
be
taken
to
an
independent
and
duly
constituted
arbitration
tribunal
recognised
under
the
rules
of
the
Association
or
Confederation
or
to
CAS.
The
Associations
shall
also
ensure
that
this
stipulation
is
implemented
in
the
Association,
if
necessary
by
imposing
a
binding
obligation
on
its
members.
The
Associations
shall
impose
sanctions
on
any
party
that
fails
to
respect
this
obligation
and
ensure
that
any
appeal
against
such
sanctions
shall
likewise
be
strictly
submitted
to
arbitration,
and
not
to
ordinary
courts
of
law.
Leagues
or
any
other
groups
affiliated
to
a
Member
of
FIFA
shall
be
subordinate
to
and
recognised
by
that
Member.
The
Member’s
statutes
shall
define
the
scope
of
authority
and
the
rights
and
duties
of
these
groups.
The
statutes
and
regulations
of
these
groups
shall
be
approved
by
the
Member.
2.
Every
Member
shall
ensure
that
its
affiliated
Clubs
can
take
all
decisions
on
any
matters
regarding
membership
independently
of
any
external
body.
This
obligation
applies
regardless
of
an
affiliated
Club’s
corporate
structure.
I
Instead of pounding out these ludicrous piles of festering garbage, he ought to be explaining to all of us just how it was that his tenure as PR Director for the NASL corresponded with the corrupt regimes of Enrique Sanz and Aaron Davidson, both of whom are under indictment for massive fraud, bribery and money laundering while Dear Kartik was ostensibly working in the same office.
He wants to tell us all about the cozy relationship between MLS and SUM, but somehow doesn't have much to say about the criminal conspiracy between NASL and Traffic Sports, which was going on while he sat in the middle of it collecting his paycheck and which has resulted in $150 million in fines, his boss Aaron Davidson out on $5 million bail and singing like Taylor Swift on crystal meth to try and avoid spending 20 years trading his anus for cigarettes in Lewisburg or his previous boss the equally criminal Enrique Sanz, the Traffic Inc. bagman who moved over to serve as the bagman for disgraced CONCACAF bribe-sucker Jeff Webb.
The cardinal rule in journalism is to write about what you know.
In Kartik's case that would mean writing about the years he spent working directly under a couple of guys who were milking international soccer for millions of dollars, laundering said money through double blind offshore banks and collecting and distributing bribes to half the soccer officials in the hemisphere.
Not baseless, groundless, evidence-free thumb sucking drivel about USSF and MLS.
In a nation without promotion and relegation, USSF is able to create arbitrary standards with the first-tier league MLS to determine what D1 standards should be. (Emphasis mine)
Leaving aside the fact that he is accusing MLS and USSF of conspiracy without feeling the need to present a single scrap of evidence, we'll move right along to pointing out that calling a set of guidelines "arbitrary" is not the same as proving that they don't have legitimacy.
SOMEONE has to make the rules governing soccer in the US of A and since a) the USSF is the duly and democratically elected governing and sanctioning body for soccer in the US and b) the FIFA Constitution and bylaws bestow upon USSF the right to make these judgements, I fail to see why that's notable.
(Not to put too fine a point on it, but USSF is not some "arbitrary" regime sent down from Zurich with Sunil Gulati as the Imperial Satrap. Rather, it's an internationally respected 102 year old sports governing body that just last year held an election where every single constituency in American soccer voted – from the professionals through the youth down to Futsal and Beach Soccer – and Gulati managed to squeak back into office by the slim margin of unanimous.)
In any case, calling the requirements for D1 status "arbitrary" is pure horsepucky. "Arbitrary" implies there is no legitimate reason or worthy purpose involved, as if USSF issued a rule that no city with more than 3 vowels in its name or with no deepwater seaport or a zoo that has less than 4 polar bears can play first division.
THAT is "arbitrary". You can look it up.
On the other hand, demanding that league teams have a certain minimum seating capacity in their stadiums is not only not arbitrary, it makes perfect sense, as does the requirement that league cities be of a certain population.
Maybe Kartik believes that towns of around 750,000 people with 5000 seat stadiums screams "Big League" but not much of anybody – including the major broadcast networks who provide the money that keeps the thing afloat – would agree. Perceptions aside, how does a market of that size compete financially with New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago or D.C.?
NASL/Kartik wants us to believe that it's the "second division" moniker which Sunil Gulati "arbitrarily" slapped on the NASL which prevents them from signing big name foreign players and getting big name sponsors.
I would posit that it's the fact that the teams play in 5000 seat stadiums in medium-to-small communities for modest salaries that keeps Lionel Messi and Nike from being particularly eager to sign up.
Then there's this:
While the USSF is the governing body of soccer in all its forms in the United States, it maintains a very cozy relationship with MLS through its marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing (SUM), which works closely with US Soccer for promotion and television rights purposes.
This from the man whose claim to soccer fame is that he spent years working as the Media Director for NASL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Traffic Sports.
Astonishing. Truly astonishing.
At least MLS Communications Director Lauren Hayes doesn't sit around a conference table with a bunch of felons a couple times a week sipping her half-caf triple venti soy latte while discussing whether anyone knows a good criminal defense attorney.
On the other hand, I have only the greatest respect for the good people of Cary, N.C. who are very loudly demanding that Traffic Sports divest itself of their beloved Carolina Railhawks. They don't like being associated with a bunch of jailbird crooks who have been named in pretty much every media outlet in the civilized world as being partly responsible for the disgraceful pit of raw sewage that is international football and the current ill repute that clouds the game everywhere on the planet.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/29/sports/soccer/fans-in-cary-nc-protest-as-fifa-scandal-hits-their-little-home-team.html?_r=0
But by all means, let's slag away on the fact that Don Garber is on Sunil Gulati's speed dial and, ergo, they're crooks. Not much of a leap there, right?
Unfortunately NASL is too busy trying to sue their way to relevance to be concerned about the fact that they're partners with a bunch of lowlife slugs who may or may not still own most of the Class B stock – the one that involves, you know, actual financial ownership – of the league.
As Rebecca Ruiz puts it in her NYT piece:
Class A stakeholders are team owners with voting rights, of which Traffic is one, while Class B stakeholders include those who invested a significant amount of money in the league early on; they have input on some decisions.
Traffic Sports USA, according to records and confirmed by the league, is the majority Class B stakeholder, meaning that it has paid the most money among the investors in that group and that it collects the largest dividend payment.
So when NASL Chief Gasbag Bill Peterson announces that:
“The Carolina RailHawks, the sole N.A.S.L. club owned by Traffic Sports USA, will continue to operate in the ordinary course of business”
He's completely ignoring that fact that the ENTIRE LEAGUE is primarily owned by a criminal conspiracy and nobody can see that changing anytime soon.
Now we certainly do get it that "Massive Multi-Million Dollar International Wire Fraud Conspiracy Led by An Admitted Felon Who's Trying to Avoid Spending the Rest of his Life in Prison Sues USSF" isn't the headline Kartik or anyone else was angling for.
In fact, that very story would seem to be exactly what this ludicrous lawsuit is about: misdirection, going on offense and distracting a sporting press with the attention span of a gerbil.