When MLS Commissioner Don Garber was tasked to run the league in 1999, it had 12 teams. Today, it sits at 30, and Garber has overseen every major advancement and change of the sport in North America. But Garber has more yesterdays than tomorrows as commissioner and the league will soon enter a new era of leadership, as he and Deputy Commissioner Gary Stevenson will shortly move on from MLS: Stevenson at the end of July, Garber likely at the end of 2027.
Speaking to a full house at the CAA World Congress of Sports last week, Garber was reflective and spoke honestly about his role and what needs to happen to continue MLS’s growth. After finishing two days of board meetings in nearby Santa Monica, our conversation on-stage touched on the growth of the league and changes to the sport’s calendar, but it was his comments about leading as commissioner that was the talk in the hallways and dinners afterward. Like all commissioners, Garber has seen owners come and go, and faces a new mindset from today’s investor. He acknowledged shepherding ownership is harder, but the tenor in the boardroom remains the same. “I don’t think it’s much different today than it was 25 years ago,” he said about the approach of owners. “There are just more of them. They’re louder. They come into the sport now with more experience. The league was started by sports industrialists (like Lamar Hunt, Robert Kraft and Phil Anschutz), and then all of a sudden, we’ve evolved, and we have people that know the game, love the game and are part of the game and believe they can add a level of interest and knowledge and pressure. And pressure is good. It forces tough decisions that lead to good processes and good outcomes. Is it harder? Yes, you got 30 of them. They’re all really successful. They’re not used to listening to anybody. I say a lot that commissioners are the only people in owners’ lives that can, other than their partner, their wife or their husband, tell them what to do.”
When asked how he approaches the role, he said, “Commissioners are like puppeteers. You’re like a UN general secretary. You’re like a hammer; the idea is the nail, and you got to try to get it in the ground and you got to try not to bang it on one blow and miss, and you can’t take too many shots, because you never get the nail in the wood. And you got to be thoughtful about keeping the owners that don’t like you away from the ones who really haven’t figured out that they don’t like you. And just be smart, focused, honest, transparent, thoughtful and have courage. Don’t care when people say bullshit about your league.”
As the league searches for its third commissioner in its history, it won’t be an easy role to fill, as Garber’s accomplishments are incredibly impressive over nearly three decades, and, I would argue, largely underrated. But the 68-year-old feels the league’s succession planning is on track. “Real companies need to have succession plans,” he said. “Leagues don’t necessarily do that because of the unique dynamic that being the commissioner of a league isn’t like just being a media expert or a sponsorship revenue expert. You’ve got to be a politician, you’ve got to be a governor, you’ve got to be a CEO and you’ve got to accommodate the needs of massive diverse constituents and stakeholders. … I’ve been the commissioner for 27 years. We got to think about the future. Our next generation, that 3.0, is what’s MLS going to look like for the next 30 years? We need to think about who the next leaders are going to be. That person — male, female, international — that person needs to think about, ‘How do I take this foundation and how do I take it to the promised land?’ Our business continues to need to move forward. Like that shark, if it doesn’t keep swimming, the shark dies. And MLS has got to keep moving.”
Toward the end of the conversation, I asked Garber, with all the progress, with all the growth and promise of the future, what could impede that progress and prevent MLS from reaching the lofty goals that he has envisioned over all these years. His answer, considering he learned at the side of Paul Tagliabue at the NFL, shouldn’t surprise anyone. “Misalignment of ownership,” he said. “Aligning ownership in a pro sports league is the single biggest priority for a commissioner. We’ve got to get big markets, small markets, new owners, wealthy owners, those coming from a family office, institutional owners and entrepreneurs and PE. Bring them together, lock them in a room, convince them that this is the plan, and don’t leave until they’re all aligned. If we can’t get aligned, the league won’t achieve its goals.”
Coming from someone with more than 40 years of sports experience and nearly three decades as commissioner, these are words to remember, file away and not take lightly.
Abraham Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
