Global Premier Soccer to cease operations and enter chapter 7 bankruptcy

Global Premier Soccer (GPS) has informed its membership that the Massachusetts-based youth club will be closing down operations.

CEO Keith Caldwell notified members of the club that operations are ceasing immediately, in anticipation of the organization entering chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Legacy Global Sports, a youth sports management company which owns an 80 percent stake in GPS, made the decision to close and file for bankruptcy. GPS has been publicly engulfed in financial and operational turmoil for some time, largely centered around a federal investigation involving former president and CEO Joseph Bradley.

To read more about the federal investigation involving GPS and Legacy Global Sports, Click Here.

Jonathan Sigal of the New England Soccer Journal obtained the message sent to GPS membership this week, announcing the latest developments. In the message, Caldwell states that the bankruptcy process could result in a sale of the GPS brand to a buyer who would restart operations.

In the meantime, GPS has shut down all of its primary social media accounts, and deactivated employee email access.

Soccer coach and blogger Chris Kessell reported on Friday that GPS New York will be transitioning to the Rush Soccer brand. While the primary GPS branch is centrally located in Massachusetts, the GPS brand has expanded across the country in recent years.

The latest version of the GPS website displays a total of 21 branches across the country, competing under the brand which is also affiliated with German Bundesliga side FC Bayern Munich.

It remains to be seen how many of those 21 branches – located in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Kentucky, Missouri, Delaware, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire – will dissolve, or eventually be able to continue operating, possibly under a different name.

See below for an excerpt from the letter to membership: