By ANNE M. PETERSON
Don Garber never pretended to know everything about soccer, but he did know business, and that’s served him well as the head of Major League Soccer for the past 25 years.
Garber celebrates his anniversary as MLS commissioner this month. After he helped rescue the league from collapse in 2001, MLS has steadily grown in profile in the United States and internationally.
“I was an experienced sports marketing executive. I had enormous energy. I loved this sport overall, and I really loved the opportunity that MLS would provide for me personally,” Garber said. “But even to this day, I don’t weigh in on coaching decisions, I don’t drive the technical direction of the league. I influence it, because I feel like I understand strategy, how research can inform decisions, how to create consensus, how to work harder than anybody to get to a preferred outcome. But I’m not a an expert in the sport, and I don’t pretend to be.”
During Garber’s watch, the league has expanded from 12 to 30 teams with the addition of San Diego FC next year. He introduced the league’s marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing, encouraged the construction of soccer-specific stadiums and spurred the growth of an academy system to develop players in the United States.
Two clubs, LAFC and Inter Miami, home of superstar Lionel Messi, are valued at over $1 billion. Total attendance at MLS matches at the halfway point of this season was 6.5 million, up 13% over the same period last year.
Before he came to MLS, Garber was head of NFL International. In 1999, NFL team owners Lamar Hunt and Robert Kraft approached Garber and asked if he might be interested in serving as MLS commissioner. It was a controversial pick, given that Garber had no soccer background.
The league, launched in 1996, was in trouble. It was bleeding millions and by 2001 it appeared on the verge of folding. But Garber persuaded the Hunt and Kraft families and Philip Anschutz to bankroll the league’s teams.
“There were so many challenges but I think the first was legitimacy, relevance, value and position in the major league landscape here in our country, where we were able to, you know drive opportunity, opportunity for players, opportunity for employees, opportunity for fans, opportunities for community,” Garber said. “And I think we achieved that.”
Hunt, who owned the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and FC Dallas and the Columbus Crew, passed away in 2006. The Hunt family, which still owns the Chiefs and FC Dallas, remains close to Garber. Clark Hunt even introduced Garber when he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
“He’s definitely a visionary,” Hunt told The Associated Press. “And he’s someone who doesn’t take no for an answer. If there’s a problem that doesn’t appear to have a solution, he’s going to push and he’s going to find a way to make it happen. I really think those qualities are very important and very helpful to Don in leading Major League Soccer.”
Among Garber’s notable accomplishments is the league’s academy system. All MLS teams now have academies to develop talent, something that had historically been lacking in the United States.
Recently, Philadelphia Union prosect Cavan Sullivan made his debut with the senior team at age 14. In a unique deal, the Union signed him to a contract that will allow him to transfer to Manchester City in the Premier League when he is old enough.
Manchester City allowed the Union to continue to develop Sullivan, signifying confidence in the team’s guidance of the teenager’s career.
The league got a big boost with the addition of Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, who was signed by Inter Miami last year. But it’s not just Messi. A record 48 MLS players participated in the recent Copa America and the European Championships.
After a quarter-century, Garber can’t settle on the initiative he’s most proud of. He prefers to look at the totality of his tenure.
“MLS has driven the rise of a soccer nation in America and Canada. And that sounds like it’s amorphous, but it’s not. That’s the most important accomplishment, that we built a powerful soccer nation. We’ve been the driver of the growth of the beautiful game in our region at so many different levels,” Garber said. “We have become a respected league in the eyes of players, fans and institutions that govern the sport. I am most proud of that. ”
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
