MLS’s search for a successor to outgoing commissioner Don Garber has been narrowed to three candidates: LAFC co-owner Larry Berg, 49ers Enterprises President Paraag Marathe and former Fox executive David Nathanson, according to sources with knowledge of the process. The candidates are expected to make presentations to MLS owners in the coming weeks, with a decision expected as early as next month.
However, the list of finalists has since dwindled to just Nathanson and Berg when Marathe pulled his name from consideration, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
The process has been unfolding since last November, when SBJ reported that MLS owners had formed a succession committee and retained The Miles Group to develop a plan. The search has progressed quickly over the past few months since MLS owners retained Korn Ferry around the start of the current season.
Puck’s John Ourand first reported the names of the three finalists on Friday, with Sportico the first to report Marathe’s decision.
MLS issued a statemet, saying, “Major League Soccer’s Board of Governors has been engaged in a comprehensive succession planning process. As part of that effort, a number of highly qualified individuals have been considered. The MLS Succession Committee is working with the Commissioner and the Board on this ongoing process.”
The two finalists have ownership stakes in MLS clubs, with Berg serving as co-managing owner of LAFC and Nathanson holding a minority interest in the Sounders.
Berg, who was among the earliest names to emerge as a potential successor to Garber, comes from the world of private equity. He spent 30 years as a senior partner at Apollo Global Management before moving to investment firm 26North in 2023. He was a limited partner in LAFC in 2014 when MLS awarded the new club to an ownership group led by Henry Nguyen for a $110M expansion fee, but led an internal buyout along with fellow investors Bennett Rosenthal and Brandon Beck in 2016, two years before LAFC ever took the pitch. The club has been among the league’s most successful since its 2018 debut -- winning an MLS Cup, U.S. Open Cup and two Supporters’ Shields -- and is consistently ranked among MLS’s two most valuable franchises at more than $1B.
Nathanson brings a strong background in sports media after spending more than 20 years in the space, mostly with Fox. He has also been an active investor. In addition to his stake in the Sounders, he was a founding investor in NWSL club Angel City FC and the NHL’s Kraken. His family’s holding company, Mapleton Investments, also manages a West Coast real estate portfolio that it values at more than $710M. Nathanson’s father David founded Falcon Cable, which sold in 1999 for $3.7B.
Garber’s contract runs through the end of 2027, which falls in the middle of the 2027-28 MLS season following the league’s decision to adopt a summer-to-spring calendar beginning next summer. The new commissioner will be immediately tasked with negotiating a new CBA ahead of the current deal’s expiration in January 2028 and a new media rights agreement with the Apple deal set to expire after the 2028-29 season. He will also be responsible for charting MLS’s broader strategic direction, which could include reforms to the league’s stringent roster rules that would allow clubs to be more competitive globally.
