Private Equity Veteran Larry Berg Named Next MLS Commissioner
AI-generated image · US National Wire
The league pivots toward a venture-capital approach to scaling 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 private equity firm 26North and former partner at Apollo Global Management, will succeed Don Garber, who has led the league since 1999. To facilitate the transition, Garber will move into the role of chairman after Berg takes over. As a condition of the appointment, the league stated that Berg must divest his shares of Los Angeles FC (LAFC).
Berg's appointment follows a closed-door meeting in Manhattan where he was vetted alongside David Nathanson, a sports media veteran and investor in the Seattle Kraken, Seattle Sounders, and Angel City FC. Berg brings a heavy investment background, having served as chair of McGraw-Hill Education and as a co-managing owner of LAFC since 2016. Under his leadership, LAFC has become a model operation with a valuation estimated by Forbes at $1.32 billion as of May.
This leadership shift signals a move toward the aggressive financial scaling Berg has previously advocated. In a February 2020 interview cited by The Guardian, Berg suggested that by the end of the decade, MLS could surpass baseball and hockey to become the third-most popular sport in the U.S., behind only basketball and football. He noted that the league's ability to reach top-three global status would ultimately depend on "money and our ability to compete for players."