The Youngstown Phantoms, along with the 15 other United States Hockey League clubs, have signed declarations to play in the USHL for the 2025-26 season. This comes on the heels of the Phantoms and another USHL club hiring famed sports litigator Jeffrey Kessler to help them join the Ontario Hockey League.
The USHL announced this development on Monday at the league’s mid-winter meetings with commissioner and president Glenn Hefferan and the league’s board of directors.
“From NHL stars to NCAA champions and world-class coaches, the USHL is where the future of elite hockey begins,” Hefferan said in a written statement. “Together, we will continue to grow and solidify our position as the top junior league in North America.”
As Sportico has detailed, the Phantoms and another USHL club would like to join the OHL, which, along with the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, comprise the Canadian Hockey League. Some hockey experts consider the CHL superior to the USHL in terms of developing players for prospective NHL careers, though others see the USHL, whose 16 teams all play in the United States, as preferable. The USHL stresses that 92% of its games are played on weekends, which allows players to further their schooling or work part-time jobs, as helping to provide “the optimal environment for athletic and personal growth.”
Until last November, the NCAA did not allow CHL players to join D-1 programs on account of CHL players receiving a stipend worth in the hundreds of dollars. In contrast, USHL players have long been able to play D-1 hockey; players aren’t compensated as the USHL maintains that its model emphasizes academic and personal growth in addition to cultivation of hockey skills.
The NCAA reversed course on CHL players in the face of a lawsuit, Masterson v. NCAA, which depicts the NCAA’s so-called “CHL boycott” as violating federal antitrust law and accuses the “boycott” as hypocritical given that college athletes can now earn income through NIL deals and given that former pros from European leagues are D-1 eligible. As a byproduct of the NCAA’s decision, the USHL lost the comparative advantage of D-1 eligibility over the CHL. Given that CHL players are now NCAA eligible too, the USHL might lose prospective players to the CHL.
Kessler’s hiring is a sign that not only do the Phantoms and another USHL club wish to leave the USHL, but that they’re also prepared to sue the USHL and its parent, USA Hockey, if their wish remains blocked. A plausible lawsuit would take aim at the USHL’s prohibition of player compensation, which is no longer necessary to preserve players’ NCAA eligibility, and depict it as illegal price fixing. Kessler is no stranger to high-profile antitrust lawsuits in sports, as he has taken on the NFL, NCAA and NASCAR, among others.
It remains to be seen whether a USHL club’s “declaration to play” is a fully binding pledge or whether it leaves room for the Phantoms and other teams to try to exit. Another key factor is whether the declaration contains a waiver of recourse, litigation release or mandatory arbitration clause—those types of stipulations could make it difficult for a USHL club to sue the USHL and other clubs. Kessler is currently leading an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR on behalf of 23XI Racing, which is co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports. As advised by Kessler, those teams refused to sign charter agreements because of (among other reasons) contractual language that would have foreclosed the chance to sue NASCAR on antitrust grounds.
The USHL, meanwhile, contends it has seen “unparalleled interest from investors and markets seeking expansion teams” since the start of the 2024-25 season, with the league “exploring multiple opportunities.” The USHL also says it is weighing “various initiatives” that would “further enhance the player experience through technology, training disciplines and academic preparation.”
