Don Garber, who is nearing the end of his three-decade tenure running Major League Soccer, said the league’s thinking about a commissioner succession plan was upended when longtime president Mark Abbott stepped down in 2022.
Speaking on the latest episode of Sportico Sports Business Presented by Endava, Garber discussed the ongoing search for MLS’s next commissioner. He highlighted the challenge of planning too far in advance, given the natural movement of executives across the industry.
“I had a guy who I thought would be a great commissioner candidate, who decided to move on in a different direction,” Garber said of Abbott. Though he did not name Abbott directly, Garber identified him as an executive who went on to a position at Georgetown University, which Abbott did after his MLS departure. “So you never can plan. We had a succession plan [and] it changed.”
Those are the most direct public comments Garber has made about Abbott’s commissioner potential, or the existence of a past succession plan, albeit one that was likely preliminary. The episode debuts on Wednesday at 11 p.m. on YES Network.
MLS’ first employee and the architect of the league’s original business plan, Abbott held a number of different executive roles in his MLS tenure, ultimately serving as president and deputy commissioner. He announced in 2021 that he would step aside at the end of 2022, and he has remained an advisor to the league.
