MLS Elects Private Equity Veteran Larry Berg as Next Commissioner
AI-generated image · US National Wire
The league pivots toward a corporate investment model as LAFC co-managing owner succeeds Don Garber.
The Major League Soccer board of governors has voted to appoint Larry Berg as the league's next commissioner, effective January 1, 2027, according to reporting from The Guardian.
Berg, a senior adviser at the private equity firm 26North and former partner at Apollo Global Management, brings a deep investment background to the role. He previously served as the chair of McGraw-Hill Education and has been a managing owner of Los Angeles FC since 2016. To facilitate the transition, the league stated that Berg must divest his shares of LAFC.
Berg will succeed Don Garber, who has led the 30-year-old league since 1999. Garber's contract runs through the end of 2027, and he will move into the role of chairman once Berg takes over to ensure a seamless leadership transition. The decision followed a closed-door meeting in Manhattan where Berg was considered alongside David Nathanson, a sports media veteran with investments in the Seattle Kraken, Angel City FC, and the Seattle Sounders.
Under Berg's leadership at LAFC, the club became a model operation, earning the 2023 Operations Club of the Year award and maintaining a Forbes valuation of $1.32 billion as of May. Berg has previously asserted that MLS could become the third-most popular sport in the U.S., trailing only basketball and football, by the end of the decade, citing the league's academy system and the pull of living in the United States; he noted that the league's ability to be a top-three league depends on financial investment and competing for players.
In a written statement, Garber expressed complete confidence in Berg's leadership qualities, describing him as the right person to lead the league into its next chapter.