Major League Soccer owners are set to vote on a new commissioner on Monday, Aug. 3, in New York City, multiple sources briefed on the plans told The Athletic.The owners will decide between the two finalists for the job: LAFC co-owner Larry Berg and former Fox executive David Nathanson, who also holds minority shares in the Seattle Sounders. Berg and Nathanson are expected to give final presentations to the board on Monday ahead of a vote, which requires a two-thirds supermajority, per the league rules.Sports Business Journal first reported the date of the vote.Whoever wins will become just the third commissioner in MLS history. Don Garber was named commissioner in 1999, replacing Doug Logan. The former NFL executive has since shepherded the league to remarkable growth over the past 27 years. Garber, 68, is expected to continue as commissioner for an undetermined amount of time as a transition takes place.He told SBJ that he expects to remain in place “in some capacity” through the end of his contract in 2027.“What capacity, we’re still working on, but I’m incredibly supportive of succession and the transition,” Garber told SBJ during MLS All-Star week.
The change in leadership comes at a crucial time in the league’s history. MLS owners voted last year to flip the calendar to a summer-spring structure that will align with the top European leagues and also to change the competition structure in a bid for more games of consequence. On Wednesday at the league’s board of governors meeting, owners also heard a presentation about changes to the roster rules structure as the league looks to increase quality.While MLS did not get changes over the line in time for the 2026 World Cup, it is set to unveil at least some of those changes in the summer of 2027 after a short “sprint season” from February to May. Whether it implements rule changes that actually allow the league to spend more evenly across rosters to take full advantage of the flipped calendar is still up in the air and depends heavily on negotiations with the MLS Players Association. The current collective bargaining agreement runs through January 31, 2028. Any significant roster rule changes would be part of a new agreement.Larry Berg is an owner of LAFC, which signed Gareth Bale in 2022 (Kirby Lee / USA TODAY Sports)Berg has significant support at the board level and is considered the favorite to be voted as the next commissioner. As co-chair of the sporting and competition committee, Berg has been deeply involved in the process of implementing the major sporting changes as part of this “MLS 3.0” plan. He served as managing partner of LAFC through its first years in MLS, though Bennett Rosenthal currently serves in that role. (Rosenthal was co-chair of the succession committee alongside Columbus Crew owner Jimmy Haslam.)Nathanson was a longtime executive at Fox Sports and was in charge when the network won the rights to air the FIFA World Cup. His media experience would be seen as an enormous plus for MLS, which will come back to market for its media rights soon. The league’s deal with Apple has been reworked from its original form and ends in the summer of 2029.If either candidate wins the vote, he will have to divest his interest in his respective MLS team, sources said. It’s not unprecedented for owners of teams to serve as commissioner. Bud Selig was previously the owner and team president of the Milwaukee Brewers before working as Major League Baseball commissioner for more than 20 years.
