Larry Berg is just months away from assuming his new role as Major League Soccer’s next commissioner. As he moves into the league’s top job, he’ll be moving out of another position—his stake in LAFC.
MLS has given Berg two years to unload all his shares in the club, according to a person familiar with the matter. That could happen sooner depending on how the market shakes out and may occur over multiple transactions, said the person, who was granted anonymity because the details are private. No bank has been retained to run the sale at this point.
And while that process has barely started to unfold, the LAFC’s lead managing owner, Bennett Rosenthal, hinted at a bidding favorite.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you see investors that are already owners of the club be interested in buying a piece of Larry’s stake,” Rosenthal said. “Obviously, everybody loves being a part of this.”
There’s no shortage of options on the cap table to step up. LAFC, the second-most valuable team in MLS at $1.4 billion, has maintained a large collection of backers since it was founded in 2014. The club’s current roster of shareholders runs 28 deep, excluding Berg, who was removed from the ownership page on LAFC’s website. Among the crowd are celebrities like Will Ferrell, Mia Hamm, Nomar Garciaparra and Magic Johnson.
