MLS Commissioner Don Garber pushed back against skeptics of the league’s growth trajectory, pointing to a collective enterprise value he said exceeds $25B and its stability relative to top European leagues.
During a one-on-one interview at the CAA World Congress of Sports, SBJ’s Abe Madkour told Garber he had recently had lunch with four sports executives who expressed skepticism about MLS’ growth prospects. In response, Garber suggested many who are bearish on MLS’ prospects are older men who have been saying “soccer will never make it in America” for decades. He countered by citing the combined valuation of the league and its 30 clubs, as well as the fact MLS ranks second globally in total attendance among soccer leagues, behind only the Premier League.
He also asserted that a prospective investor would be better off purchasing an MLS franchise than a Premier League club. As proof points, he cited the massive financial losses suffered by some of the sport’s biggest European clubs, the risk inherent in promotion and relegation and the relative difficulty of building new venues in Europe compared to North America.
“[The investor is] going to buy an MLS team, he is going to build a great stadium, he’s going to have young, diverse, largest Latino fan base of any pro sports league. And guess what? He’s not going to get relegated,” Garber said.
He also pointed to several industry titans who have acknowledged missing out by not investing in MLS in its early days.
“Ted Leonsis said the worst decision he ever made in sports was not buying D.C. United for $35M -- they’re raising money at $950M. David Blitzer looked at MLS for many, many years -- could have bought the Philadelphia Union for $30M, ended up coming into Real Salt Lake for hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars,” Garber said. “At that time, they didn’t believe what MLS would be able to do, how it would capture a new audience -- the most diverse audience in sports.”
At the end of the session, Madkour and Garber gauged the audience’s enthusiasm about MLS’ business prospects, with Garber asking who would want to invest in an MLS team and Madkour asking who is bullish on the league’s future. Both received strong response in the form of raised hands.
Whitecaps in peril: Garber reiterated the Whitecaps are at risk of relocation due to unfavorable stadium economics and limited government support in Vancouver. Asked about attractive expansion markets, he pointed to Las Vegas, Sacramento, Phoenix and Tampa -- all of which could also emerge as potential relocation candidates.
Still happy with Apple: Even after MLS shortened its media rights deal with Apple by three years, Garber said he remains largely satisfied with the partnership. “In light of what we know today, we would do the same deal other than the subscription,” he said. The league this season eliminated the separate subscription package, moving matches into Apple TV’s broader platform. He added that he would prefer Apple to be more transparent with viewership data.
