On Jan. 18, I reported the following:
Women’s Professional Soccer averted another court date with magicJack owner Dan Borislow on Wednesday, reaching a deal that allows his team to play an exhibition schedule in 2012 and 2013. Borislow said he has put his temporary injunction suit on hold; the suit was intended to stop the termination of his franchise.
The details of the deal need to be finalized and the plan must be approved by U.S. Soccer.
The Deal was first reported by a mysterious Twitter person who has since deleted the tweets. But it was Borislow who was most enthusiastic about it, though our mysterious eyewitness told the world that “Fitz, O’Sullivan all seemed happy.” (That would be Atlanta Beat owner/WPS board chairman T. Fitz Johnson and WPS CEO Jennifer O’Sullivan, of course.)
News of The Deal even reached Deadspin, thanks to the fabulous (and since-departed) Emma Carmichael, with the classic headline “The Banned Boca Raton Women’s Professional Soccer Team Will Keep Playing In Zombie Form.”
And yet WPS, for its part, never publicly acknowledged such The Deal. The league didn’t acknowledge much of anything.
You may have heard this week that the news has turned a little sour.
In Monday’s conference call about WPS suspending its 2012 season, O’Sullivan addressed The Deal: “What the ownership and league have been struggling to do is put the focus back on the players and this game. We were willing to consider that as an option in order to accomplish that goal.”
This morning, we learned from Beat beat writer William Bretherton that WPS owners were downplaying The Deal. And Johnson thought info about The Deal “was put out when it shouldn’t have been.”
That, of course, is the unfortunate part about going to court. If you’re read all the legal docs that I’ve put out through this site and espnW, you’ll see a lot of things that both parties might not want the public perusing. And The Deal can’t be kept secret when it’s being discussed in a public court hearing. As I said to our mysterious Twitter witness, “FINALLY! The deal is public!!!”
The details, though, were not described in public. And William quotes Philly owner David Halstead as saying WPS and Borislow were on different wavelengths.
Want to know what Dan Borislow has to say about The Deal? Let’s check the motion his legal team filed Monday:
The first paragraph complains that WPS is blaming Borislow for the suspension of the season and, for reasons that aren’t clear to me, boasting that Borislow was likely to win his case. The second paragraph says there’s no point in having a Feb. 1 hearing on an injunction if the 2012 season doesn’t exist, suggesting that the parties meet by telephone instead. (That meeting has apparently taken place.)
Then it gets interesting (emphasis mine):
Further, as the parties reported to the Court at the January 16, 2012 hearing, the parties have already reached a complete settlement of this case on agreed terms, certain of which were read into the record. Notwithstanding the latest announcement by Defendant, it continues to be Plaintiffs’ position that this is a settled matter. The only open issue, that is, U.S. Soccer Federation approval, remains pending, and Defendant has a continuing duty to cooperate in good faith in such efforts. It now, however, appears that defendant is attempting to renege on the settlement.
And then the fourth paragraph says, “Hey, we still have a deal.”
So what have they agreed to do, and what might Judge Sasser — who has already ruled against WPS even on issues that seemed to be cut and dried such as jurisdiction of this case — compel WPS to do?
I’ve written a check to the State of Florida and filled out a request form to get audio recordings of the Jan. 16 hearing and the telephone hearing. It might take a few days, but I’ll let you know.
I think I read in the initial press release from WPS on suspension, that USSF did not approve the settlement. (If it was not in the press release, I have no idea who reported it, who knew there were so many reporters/writers/bloggers/journalists interested in women’s soccer?). If no settlement was reached, what did USSF reject? Owner’s or BoG’s need to start talking to each other and getting their stories straight, although how boring would that be for the rest of us?
Thank you.
Sorry, just checked, it wasn’t in WPS press release, but it was probably a blog on the same day, I’ll keep looking.
Yeah, I’m not sure where you saw that. I don’t recall seeing it.
Thanks to Beau for posting and keeping folks in the loop with court developments, etc.
Regarding his question: “So what have they agreed to do?,” I say “nothing.” Even the Plaintiff’s attorneys point out, in their Feb. 1st motion, that “Defendant’s counsel has yet to provide a draft settlement agreement, as promised.” That says it all right there; the lawyers didn’t even get to the point of exchanging drafts of the settlement agreement, never mind getting signatures on a finalized agreement from principals like Johnson, Hoftstader, etc. (The court transcript is irrelevant to the question, even if it reflects “on the record” statements, because such statements are about a possible deal only. Though I applaud Beau for spending cash to make available all the files from the Court).
This sort of “backing away from apparent settlement” is not as unusual as one might assume. The lawyers in such a scenario want to make nice before the judge, and they are on best behavior, so they might smile and say: “Positive news, Your Honor, there’s no need to hold this hearing today. We have a nice agreement in place — just need to ‘flesh out the details’ and obtain our client’s final approval.” Judges also love to hear this because word of a possible settlement is good for everyone, and it means the judge will have no more work that day (or possibly ever) on that case. And it means when the lawyers return weeks later with no signed agreement in hand, the judge can feign surprise (“I thought you said …”) and express disappointment, and maybe tell the attorneys to fix it and get it done (because judges are busy people, and dockets are crowded, etc.). Maybe if the Court is being difficult, it will do some shaming, telling the attorneys that they’ve “let the Court down” because they were “not very forthright about the prospect of settlement.” But that’s meaningless, ultimately.
As to what the Court will do here? First, the Court will not agree with the idea that there is some sort of binding settlement in place. Second, I’m guessing that the court then might hear more evidence, but ultimately will not order MJ’s reinstatement pending the arbitration (too many factors against doing so). Indeed, MJ’s own attorneys almost suggest, in their recent motion, that the proper course now is to “simply” proceed to the dispute resolution process (i.e., go to mediation/arbitration).
So then the parties presumably start the arbitration. The rules favor the League quite a bit – they keep Borislow on a tighter leash. Notably, however, like in a court, the arbitration could involve live witness testimony. (Side note: If the arbitration extends into the late summer (and it well could), I hope that no party intends to call any witnesses who happen to be London-bound, or that the parties at least have the decent sense to postpone such testimony until the fall. I don’t want to see a July/August witness list that includes MJ’s former player/coach).
Just based on what I’ve read from the docs Beau has collected from the Court, I think Borislow loses in front of a panel of arbitrators. Hopefully, this all happens before the end of 2012, hopefully the league gets restarted.
Wow, his lawyers are good.
1. remind the court it was on his side and that now the WPS in the press is playing the victim (the first paragraph you found confusing);
2. remind the court the parties read a settlement in front of the court (nothing judges hate more than being manipulated), think about what some of the owners have said about the settlement in the last few days…cannot wait to read what was said on the day of the settlement;
3. tie USSF to WPS…did WPS in good faith try to get approval for the settlement, if not, they can bring USSF into the suit as well, bad faith by WPS in “wink wink nudge nudge” please [don’t] approve “request” to settle;
4. completely sets up his next suit for breach of agreement re: the settlement;
5. not necessarily a legal point, but the last exhibit lashes Abby to his side in this dispute…”look, the face of soccer agrees with me”.
Basically, in my opinion, the filing says “I’m going to blow ALL of you up if you don’t deal with me”.
Just wow.
This is a terribly sad, but fascinating, look behind the scene. Thanks for keeping us informed.
Well, at least Steve C. and I agree on thanking Beau!
I personally think we are looking at a war of attrition here.
Still can’t find reference to USSF rejecting settlement, but will keep looking. For the time being, I retract my earlier statement.
Great comments, folks! I think there’s a lot of truth here.
Let me hope clarify a few things.We have a deal with the WPS.It’s that easy.I am seeing if we have the transcripts and move this along quicker for everybody who wants to see the deal right away.Obviously whatever took place in court is not confidential.Part of the deal is that we would not disparage one another.I continue to live up to my end of the deal-all of it.You must decide if you think the other side is too.Further,the deal is not at all reliant on the USSF.The USSF was approached to see if they would waive the number of WNT players on our team under certain conditions.WE have options to play with no WNT players all the way up to as many as we want to under certain conditions without any USSF approval at all.There are no impediments to following through on the deal from both sides.This was supposed to be the end of litigation,no more leagal expenses(of which I was told most of them were being donated and/or a large donation would be given by Fulmers firm to the WPS),no more squabling and no uncertainty as it relates to the future of the WPS and magicJack.I suspect that many people will be surprised when they see the transcript and even more surprised when they see todays motion which includes WPS documents that tell a much different story than the one blaming Borislow for everything.I dont know the reason why the WPS is not playing this year,but it’s not because of Borislow.I was very comitted to having a super team this year and supporting womens soccer,exactly like I did when we saved it last year.Nobody should be pointing fingers as all the owners supported soccer costing all of us millions of Dollars.For whatever reason the WPS did not want to play this year and it’s unfortunate,but dont blame it on the guy who saved Womens soccer and was fielding a team this year.I have had many of my players contact me over the last few weeks and told me to hang in there and how sorry they were that I was treated this way.I told them I would do it all over again and never feel sorry for Dan Borislow.I know I did the right thing and did my best,at a huge cost,to try and make Womens soccer succesful for years to come.Sure I was confrontational,but in a crisis situation,you have to get everybody on the same page and quick.Things needed to be shaken up.One of the things I was very much against for the good of the game,was not to play with a half amatuer team when the WNT players from all over the world cant play in the WPS.Of course this doesnt include players like Sarah,Tina,Dalmy and others who could not only play on our own National Team but would start on the other 95% of any other National team if given the chance.I tried everything to make Pros out of amatuers and was making progress until certain things intervened in that process.It was obvious how right I was,when the rest of the best Pros came back after the world cup and our team had games which drew more spectators than ever every place we went.I dont feel guilty about anything,zero.I am very proud that we might have had something to do with the success of the WNT and the US program in general.Everybody needs to stop pointing fingers now and for the moment,figure out how we help our girls get Gold.Next step we can figure out what is best for a Pro league or leagues.I hope I never have to disparage the WPS or citicize anybody ever again and we as a country get on the same page.
Is “we as a country get on the same page” code for “do as I say or I will lose my mind like a 12-year-old again?”
WPS really should have consulted w/ the lawyers boingboing used to get their Borislow SLAP suit killed.
Brian
I know some pretty smart 12 year olds and capable of making better decisions than most.it’s much easier to Hate than Love.
These quotes are attributed to Albert Einstein,not sure if they are.
A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction
We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” (Sign hanging in Einstein’s office at Princeton)
Dan,
stop quoting me out of context, you vile man.
I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.
Kind regards
You didn’t answer the question, Dan. Is “the same page” simply your page with temper tantrums and demeaning language for those who disagree or something that involves compromise?
Anyone else think that this “new and improved” Dan is the result of further evidence of how he allegedly demeaned his players being released this week?
Dan,
you probably are a dipshit, but I do recognize you are not the only one to blame here.
I think all of the owners (including you Dan) and Sullivan have failed this league and most importantly their players. I am sure none of the owners care much at all, they can still go back to a job and I’m sure Sullivan will also still get her paycheck, sad to say the players won’t.
Great job guys, now GFU
3 things I want to say to Dan :
1. Stop saying you saved women’s soccer. You helped of course, but by claiming it for yourself makes you seem like a pompous ass.
2. I agree league management screwed up and you’re being made the fall guy.
3. If any ONE thing Ella Masar said is true, not only should you not be running a professional soccer team; I’m not even sure you should be around women.
Dan,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and some of your hopes for women’s soccer. I agree that the WNT must continue to be supported and that gold should be a priority. Gold for the WWC in 2015 and Olympics in 2016 should also be a goal and establishing a well maintained pro league is an essential part of repeating the WNT’s success. Because of this, women’s pro soccer should not be seen as secondary or amateur.
Placing blame is a distraction. If WPS and you are serious about the future (and I assume you are with all this back-and-forth), it’s time to look at what problems exist and fix them as soon as possible. For the WPS, that’s their erratic business model and (lack of) reputation management. For you, that’s your player relations. As CEO of a multi-million dollar brand, you know how important good management can be. If you want to be a part of the future of women’s soccer, invest in a full-time management staff that has extensive experience working with young, female players. Consistency and communication are key. You’ve got the resources to hire world class coaches and certainly don’t have the time to be so closely involved with the players. A disgruntled, threatened team doesn’t win championships. Even the veteran players would acknowledge that.
JKF was no Einstein, but he was on to something:
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
Change is in order. Let’s hope everyone really is willing or this may be the end of women’s professional soccer for a long time.
I’m staggered by the ridiculousness of Dan Borislow. Beyond that, my one comment is this: there is not a league in this world in any sport that is made up of only national team caliber players. EPL, La Liga, etc are composed of many players who were never even in the conversation for their national teams but the great thing is that these players can still make a living doing something that they love, contribute to the development of others, and , occasionally a diamond in the rough will reveal him or herself. For you to think that you’re coaching at the national team is laughable. You may think you have saved something but your delusion has never been more obvious since you’ve posted in it your own words. You have zero respect for anyone who you don’t feel is top caliber which means you have no interest in developing someone to become so. Sorry, Dan, you’ll never be able to buy your way into the national team. Live with it. And quit hindering the development of the sport for the rest of the girls out there who will never be Abby Wambach. Keep in mind, though, that someone, way back when might have written her off, demeaned her, etc and she might not have become the powerhouse you’re so enamored with ‘owning’.
It’s women’s soccer, it will probably never be a cash cow. I’ve read a lot about not having a sound business structure or plan in place. WUSA didn’t work out, and now it looks like WPS didn’t either.
With that being said, I’m pretty sure Borislow is a self-made millionaire. I’m betting he could own his own league if he wanted to. But instead he paid a lot of money out of his own pocket to keep WPS going in 2011.
Most people wouldn’t want to flush their own money down the toilet. You invest your money now for a return in the future. So if something’s broken you try to fix it! I wouldn’t doubt that he had some radical ideas about shaking things up, and I would assume he probably ruffled a lot people’s feathers.
I didn’t know who Borislow was before all of this nonsense happened, but if you google him you see that most of his business ventures have been very successful. Maybe the league should have listened to what he had to say when he first got involved. Maybe we would have a season to look forward to.
I just wanted to watch the women play and now I can’t. I don’t blame Dan for that.
I just wanted to watch “Lie to Me,” and now I can’t. I blame the fact that not enough people wanted to watch the show for that.
At what point are the people who claim it’s for the good of the game and the hopes and dreams of young women and then turn around and say “I just wanted to watch the women play” admit there simply isn’t a large enough audience for this product to sustain it in a fully professional manner?
KT, there are clearly owners who want to make a go of it. They want to get back on the field, but they’re tied up in court.
Awesome comment by Roger, above:
“3 things I want to say to Dan :
“1. Stop saying you saved women’s soccer. You helped of course, but by claiming it for yourself makes you seem like a pompous ass.
2. I agree league management screwed up and you’re being made the fall guy.
3. If any ONE thing Ella Masar said is true, not only should you not be running a professional soccer team; I’m not even sure you should be around women.”
I would like to add, as a physician, that Borislow seems to be in need of anger management therapy, at least. His abusive, swear-laden emails, his constant threats of litigation, his quick-tempered decisions, and his grandiose quoting of Einstein all seem pathological and even suggestive of a personality disorder and/or a mood disorder such as bipolar. It’s a shame he can’t see how he comes across and recognize the problems he has.
Doc
If you use a defibrillator and resume the heartbeat of a patient,did you save him?
This is the US,I can swear and do a number of things I deem appropriate and helpful.One of the things I believe inappropriate is not to tell the truth.So I am guilty of telling it like it is.It works for me.It saves me a lot of time by getting my point across faster .As far as knowing what my strengths and weaknesses are,I am pretty sure I know what they are.Thanks.
Why do any of you believe anything you read or hear about without knowing two sides of a story?Why don’t most of you post your full names on blogs?
I see people doubt what Ella might have wrote on a blog.I didn’t read it .I would prefer not to talk about Ella for a number of reasons.
I never said there weren’t owners who wanted to make a go of it. Clearly, there are. There simply aren’t enough people willing to plunk down money to watch what those owners have been selling to make a league viable at the fully professional, don’t-have-to-constantly-worry-about-your-livelihood level.
Dan, I don’t think too many people doubt what Ella said on her blog. We would love to hear your account. For that matter, we’re still waiting to hear from Abby Wambach about this issue. I believe she needs to respond.
I regularly use defibrillators to save peoples’ lives but I’m not egomaniacal enough to assert that I alone saved them. Were I alone and had done so, perhaps, but even then I probably would be humble about it, owing it to simply being in the right place at the right time.
What does it matter what our names are? I don’t care who does or does not know my name but I’m certainly not putting out there to feed my own ego or because I have to defend myself for crimes of which I’m accused. Speaking of which, you come here to spew what you call “truth” (your side, anyway), selectively defend yourself, and reassert that your rogue tactics are the only salvation for women’s soccer in this country. Did you just come here to incite tempers? You don’t seem to be winning anyone over, not that I doubt you truly care about such things.
Dan thank you for saving the wps in 2011 but during that year you chased major investors away and denied medical care to one of your players who had a broken nose.those two points alone would for me if i were one of the other owners be enough not to have you back in the league.so the wps has folded plain and simple many lives and dreams totally disrupted for this year.please dan just drop the suit,take your ball to another field and if the us wnt players want to play in that field they so have the right but they won’t be the darlings of america anymore.wow all in one sentence.thank you.oh and why people don’t leave full names because emails get hacked and families and contacts harrassed for weeks with mail that looks like was sent by you meaning writer but was’nt.
Dear Mr Borislow
You are a scum sucking pig! I pray that your little girls NEVER run in to a pig like you! What would you do if she come home and told you her “boss” told her to call her DADDY?! Get ready for it cause KARMA is bitch and she’s looking right at you, PIG!
EGOMANIAC
(e·go·ma·ni·a (g-mn-, -mny, g-)n.
Obsessive preoccupation with the self.) Noun 1. egomaniac – an abnormally egotistical person
egoist, egotist, swellhead – a conceited and self-centered person
OK, folks — I fully understand having a pointed discussion here, but I’m going to draw the line at outright personal attack like that. Let’s back up and keep things as civil as possible.
“One of the things I was very much against for the good of the game,was not to play with a half amatuer team” If I remember correctly MJ didn’t even make it to the finals and WNY won the Championship.Weren’t they made up of less WNT players then MJ.
@Dan – I have defended you on many occasions and on many topics, but you’ve never made it easy. I admired your willingness to step in at the 11th hour and keep the league from folding. I also admired some of your choices about how to run your team. I have often given you the benefit of the doubt when it came to comments and stories about your misdeeds. I have worked for men who were strongly opinionated, blunt, and unorthodox.
I have also called you an ass, on occasion. Some of your responses on blogs have been so over the top that people didn’t even pay attention to WHAT you were saying, just HOW you were saying it. I have many times questioned why you would do something that obviously would upset the powers that be.
Through it all I have never questioned your desire to improve professional women’s soccer. I just fear that your style of management might not be the right fit. A layer of management between you and your team might very easily be all that’s needed.
The NT winning gold in London would go a long way in helping WPS get back on track and I applaud your efforts to aid in that, but I hope not at the expense of WPS.
I hope this court case comes to a conclusion that everyone can live with, the USWNT, the WPS, and you. I would like very much to see the transcript you spoke of earlier. – Diane Hansen
@Dan @Beau – I’ve just read the transcript and I have a question. In the transcript the defendant’s lawyer said repeatedly that the agreement depended on USSF’s approval, is it your understanding that since USSF answered favorably, questions about the conditions under which NT players could play that no actual “approval” of the total agreement was needed? I can see where you and WPS might disagree on that point.
It is the plaintiff’s (Dan’s) lawyer, Mr. Ederer, who repeatedly says the agreement is subject to USSF approval.
I appreciate the comments here. Having a deal to play read into the record is not having a signed agreement.. The part of the reading was that 3 of the BOG approved… My guess is that the BOG as a whole did not.
I like the more mellow Daddy Dan responses…. he is convinced he is doing this for the right reasons… he has a history of lawsuits and I am surprised he did not sue Masar over confidentiality.
While I do not Dan Dan entirely, he surely knew he was not going to get back in the league yet proceeded with the lawsuit and had to have some knowledge of the resources it would take from the buisness side of the league. There are limited amounts of people working for WPS and a lawsuit made sponsors and daily buisness that needed to occur impossible to work on.
I personnally wanted MJ back in the league and was stunned when they terminated the team.. I found great comedy last year and will miss Daddy Dan giving the 2 middle finger finger salute to the Philly Fans.
He wanted the priority to the USWNT players and gave little value to the others. His precious Abby would not have made the team without playing in the WUSA… at that time, he would cast her on the heap as a loser
Now, I agree with Olympic Gold Medalist, former USWNT player Tasha Kai’s tweet
@Diane-USSF stated that the only way the NT players could play for MJ is if they were part of WPS which they were not going to be.I don’t see him putting in a team that could not have NT players on it.
@Roger – you’re right, my mistake.
Is it me or does Borsilow come off like the guy who sees a couple of thugs beating a well dressed man at the end of a dark alley. He pulls out a gun and chases of the thugs, and then as the man begins to thank him, he robs him at gun point?
After looking through the posted court documents, I still get the impression that he is bloated with self importance, and after claiming that he saved WPS, his next trick will be to say that he saved the USWNT and lead them to Olympic Gold. The reality is that he took a good thing, trashed it, and is still delusional about what he brings to soccer. I wonder what the result would be if he attempted to do the same things in MLS as he has done to WPS.
“Sure I was confrontational,but in a crisis situation,you have to get everybody on the same page and quick,” said the guy who went an entire year without bothering to put up a website for his team
“I am very proud that we might have had something to do with the success of the WNT and the US program in general,” said the guy whose team had to be taped up by the other team’s trainer
“Great comments, folks! I think there’s a lot of truth here,” said Beau, only to be jinxed by the very next post
Dan – the one thing that resonates all your actions is – go big or go home. Love it and appreciate your neurotic love of the game we all share. Thank you.
@Diane
IF the WNT wins gold why will that go a long way in helping the WPS come back. I find these statement so interesting. I think the sponsors just saw the WC impact and what happened.
@Dan,
Why did you get into the WPS? What were your business goals?
Where in your background did you fell qualified to own and run and soccer team at any level?
Look forward to your response.
@Tricia
I really think you need a Magic Jack…
@Ben – Putting a positive spotlight on women’s soccer can only help WPS. Assuming they do some major work on the business side, I think it will attract sponsors. Couldn’t hurt.