NASL Drops Suit Against OKC
Ted Philipakos (@tphilipakos) shared the image below on Twitter Monday morning which suggests the short legal battle between NASL and prospective NASL franchiser Tim McLaughlin has ended before it even began.
Court document suggests NASL lawsuit has been dropped.
There has been no word from NASL suggesting the reason for dropping the suit, whether this had been settled outside of court or simply abandoned as an unwise course of action. It may be that pursuing legal action against one of its own failed franchise opportunities presents a less than appealing environment for welcoming future potential owners. It may have been, as explained deeply by Dave Laidig at Northern Pitch, that NASL simply had too challenging a case to make to pursue the issue further.
NASL’s case in this lawsuit was a hazy one. At issue was the degree to which OK Pro Soccer LLC (owned by Tim McLaughlin) breached its contract with the league when Oklahoma City, as a team, never actually formed a club and even set a date for a game. The league would have needed to show crystal clear evidence that the clauses by which the group could exit the league were violated. But the nature of this dispute stinks of a jilted lover, one which did not actually take on any particular harm other than a hit to the ego, and wanted to lash out. That OKC went for USL a short time after posting notice was likely salt in the wound for NASL, but the murkiness of the legal underpinnings probably meant that NASL would have had a hard time demonstrating that the exit for USL was a breach of contract. This particular jilted lover may have been dragging out its own suffering by prolonging the fight for a relationship past the point of no return. The net result may ultimately have been a slew of legal fees for a cash-strapped league and a run of bad publicity, without much to show for it all.
About Post Author
Wow thanks for the complete rubbish comments in this article. Is this a new NASL website run and operated by MLS fans with nothing sensible to say?
The only thing clear from this tweet is that the lawsuit has been withdrawn. It doesn’t reveal whether their was a settlement wherein NASL received compensation to withdraw the suit – as many seem to believe. And it certainly doesn’t say anything to support the gibberish written here supporting the idea that NASL withdrew the suit because it was a recovering “jilted lover.”
Really? A “jilted lover” – way to start this website with MLS blog quality anti-NASL gibberish. You really think that the NASL has no cause to be aggrieved by a business partner that pulled out of a deal midway to switch to a competing business venture? You don’t think there was any bad faith there at all? Jilted lovers don’t have contracts, they don’t engage in financial commitments, and they don’t delve into stadium agreements relied on by the other party.
Obviously, we don’t know why it was withdrawn at this time, certainly more details will emerge. But what is clear is that this is the type of article that does a disservice to the NASL and its fans. Sorry if this is harsh but it is sickening to read these MLS apologists claim to be wishing the NASL well out of one side of their mouth but then out of the other side just bash it with nonsense and unsupported gibberish passed off as facts.
Even jilted lovers get the support of friends, clearly you’re not a friend of the NASL.
(Incidentally, the fact the document states “without prejudice” indicates to me that NASL withdrew without a settlement [just an impression! don’t really know], here you go, having a conclusion based on actual facts – go talk to a lawyer so he can explain why that may be relevant, you know actually do some home work before you write something other people can see)
Which reminds me, how do you know the league is “cash strapped?” Just unsupported by facts gibberish like the rest of your “article” I’m sure, but maybe not. Surely, if the league is actually in financial difficulty your readers would like and can’t wait for your source. So what is your source? Come on share with us stupid NASL fans your wisdom.
I know from talking to the other partners in the ownership group of OKC FC that they were floored, completely surprised, and stunned when Tim McLaughlin left THEIR ownership group to jump ship to the USL ownership group. He had told them (and the NASL apparently) that he was “afraid he was going to lose too much money”, and that he “wanted OUT OF SOCCER”. Since he had negotiated the stadium lease IN THE NAME OF OKC FC, they were certain that they still had a lease to play at Taft. When they found out that he was keeping the lease, they had no idea why, since he was “getting out of soccer”. I was the one that informed one of the owners that he had just been named as a part owner of the USL side. He didn’t believe me at first, until I forwarded him the link to the press release, which also said that the USL team would be playing at Taft Stadium. He is a weasel, and the other owner is an ass. I have wanted soccer in OKC forever, and now I can’t even support the team in good conscience. I wish they could have taken him for all he was worth, personally.
Do you have any idea why the former partners didn’t sue McLaughlin? It would seem they also have grounds under the scenario you described. Thanks.
Not really sure. i haven’t spoken to any of them in a long time. I got tired of nothing happening. I just gave up
Ok, thanks for the info, and I think your frustration is understandable. Rumors continue that the prospective NASL group hasn’t completely given up yet – but there hasn’t been any tangible news on their progress (if any).
Ignore OpenCupFan. He is a known troll that was kicked off bigsoccer and trolls soccer sites bashing MLS and whining about pro/rel. Sadly the type of crazy that NASL commish attracted with some of his crazier statements. Like with Ted Westervelt, he is a conspiracy wacko who thinks MLS controls the world. He also cannot any criticism of the NASL, despite its many flaws and ties to Traffic.
NASL fans want good reporting and not propaganda like this guy wants. Keep the truth coming!
Oh, and the irony of him being named OpenCupFan when the NASL pretty much was laughed out of the US Open Cup. lol.
Wasn’t kicked off anywhere, go double check your sources – that’s your first wrong fact.
I do advocate for pro/rel, and why not? That’s not a basis to attack a person – unless you have nothing better to say.
I do challenge people when they attack NASL, without basis, because it does a disservice to readers looking for intelligent analysis and/or to people who are just being introduced to the league.
Defending NASL is also not a reason to attack someone – unless, well you know.
On the other hand, I’d die for some reasonable critiques of NASL. Like the showing at the US Open Cup this year, NASL teams should be taken to task by journalists for this failure. – so that’s another thing you are very wrong about.
– Or, been a while since the lawsuit discussed in this article was withdrawn and in that time has anyone actually asked NASL why it was withdrawn? Or are we still sticking to the “jilted lover” hypothesis? Seriously, this is like the bear minimum a journalist can do – go to the damn source and just ask, if the answer is no comment, so be it, but for the love of God just ask already.
As for “irony,” maybe you should get a dictionary – NASL’s success last year and Cosmos this year has increased the profile of the Open Cup. Why don’t you go look at the numbers on the increased media coverage and exposure of the Open Cup across the country – this is the NASL’s impact. One last bit here, last nights game at RedBull Arena doubled their highest attendance number in any previous Open Cup game – it wasn’t just coincidence that this happened against an NASL team – btw, that reference to attendance numbers is called a fact. While you’re at a dictionary maybe you should look up the word fact, too.
Hmmm, did I miss anything in your post? Let me scroll up and check.
Oh yeah Traffic – what the hell does Traffic have to do with NASL’s flaws? The person behind this whole FIFA scandal was mls man of the year in 2006 – that’s also a fact, hope you had a chance to check the dictionary before getting to this part. How the hell does Traffic reflect worse on NASL than Blazer does on mls? Love to hear an answer to that.
And by the way, anyone with any knowledge of any wrong doing by traffic that assisted NASL please disclose it, it would be fascinating reading – and a genuine scoop for the writer. All I have ever heard about Traffic is that it doesn’t spend enough money on the teams it owns – quite the opposite of the narrative that states Traffic is keeping NASL afloat.
Lastly, although I would welcome an intelligent response (informed with some facts would be sweet), it is unlikely. Instead, I will put on my magic Kreskin genie hat and predict that deeks2 is not heard from again.