Garber will mark his 25th anniversary this summer.getty images
Evolution and growth have been constants during Don Garber’s time as MLS commissioner, a tenure that will reach 25 years this summer. Even so, the 2023 season stands out as perhaps the league’s most transformative yet. MLS began its groundbreaking 10-year, $2.5 billion partnership with Apple; launched the ambitious Leagues Cup in-season tournament; and welcomed the world’s greatest player, Lionel Messi, to Inter Miami. SBJ spoke to Garber about how the league plans to build on those milestones, as well as some issues of the day. (This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.)
Coming off a big year in 2023, how would you characterize the business outlook for 2024?
GARBER: With great momentum and tailwinds from last year, it has spurred almost unprecedented growth for us. Season-ticket sales are up 15-20% from the same time last year, and the vast majority of our clubs are well ahead of their pace from last year. Season-ticket revenue is up 25%. Sponsorship revenue is tracking to 20% over ’23. Club sponsorship revenue is up 15%. Sponsorship revenue in Canada is up 45%. Consumer products revenue is up 45%.Those are all metrics we are very focused on as we continue to drive the value of our clubs not just to our ownership, but to our partners and to our fans.
What were your key takeaways from Year 1 of the Apple partnership and how do you feel about adoption of the Season Pass service heading into Year 2?
GARBER: We had an all-hands-on-deck level of engagement to get this going in under a year, to produce all of our games. Now, we’ve had an offseason to work with Apple on enhancing our offering and looking at different ways to approach our studio shows utilizing technology, both in terms of the Season Pass offering and interface, but also what could we be thinking about that could be the future of consumption. Apple Vision Pro is an example of that.
How is the league tracking toward the goal of unlocking additional revenue from the Apple partnership by exceeding the undisclosed subscription threshold?
GARBER: Ultimately, we’ve got work to do to continue to convert viewers to subscribers. For us, the real value is that watching a game on Season Pass is intentional. It gives us a relationship with somebody who’s making an actual choice to engage with our games, with our enhanced features, with our shoulder programming in ways that a traditional linear partnership has not been able to provide us with. So, we are pleased with our subscription numbers and we’re enthusiastic about that growth. We continue to aspire to pass the guarantee and get into revenue share, but we’re very focused on this as a long-term partnership and we’ve not put any timetable on when we hit that threshold.
How is the league looking to capitalize on Messi’s star power in his first full season in MLS?
GARBER: Ticket sales, sponsorship sales, subscription sales — the revenue will continue to follow Messi being in our league, but to me, it’s way more important to look at it strategically. Could it make us think about a different player strategy? Should we be thinking about a corporate sponsorship strategy that goes beyond just the evolution of what we’ve been doing successfully for the last number of years? How can we think about our consumer products business and our collectible business differently, because now we have one of the most popular players commercially in the history of sport? That dynamic is what we from the league office are thinking about in terms of what Messi 2.0 could look like.
Are there any specifics you can share as it pertains to the evolution we might see in the areas you mentioned, such as league-level sponsorship or commercial products?
GARBER: It’s more big picture, but there might be some good storylines there going forward.
What can you share about the commercial results of last season’s inaugural Leagues Cup, and how do you see the event evolving going forward?
GARBER: It was a great success and it exceeded our expectations. There’s been so much talk about what a closer partnership between MLS and Liga MX could look like, from rumors about the leagues coming together to an expanded version of what had been many years of interleague play. With a great sense of strategic vision, we created this cross-border, in-season tournament that now has become something that every league is looking at: How could you take an aspect of your season and create something that could drive new audiences, thrill and entertain fans and provide some real commercial value? We have new ticket revenue and also a competition that allows us collectively to target new audiences to ultimately grow our fan base, give us fan records and a closer relationship through data with fans that might not have been connected to our clubs.
You referenced rumors of a potential merger between MLS and Liga MX. Are those conversations taking place?
GARBER: No. We have the perfect dynamic for both of our leagues where we can play in a valuable tournament that we jointly own, do it at a time where we can fill a void in the global soccer calendar and have a very valuable commercial property without having to get into thinking about what that could look like with a joint league. So, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Where do things stand in conversations with U.S. Soccer about MLS clubs participating in the U.S. Open Cup, since the governing body rejected a proposal to have MLS Next Pro teams participate instead?
GARBER: Soccer in our country is unique because of the deep history from what existed professionally way before MLS and the continued community involvement with the game. But that also creates complications and dynamics that are unique to our sport. The Open Cup is an example of that. I really believe that we need to evolve the way we think about the sport and not just rely on the continuation of history to drive the growth and the success of the sport at all levels.
Throughout the sport, more and more pressure is put on players to participate in competitions that are not part of the league schedule. We remain in very productive discussions with U.S. Soccer regarding MLS participation for 2024. They’ve been collaborative and they’ve been productive. Those discussions are in real time, and I can’t really provide any update, but obviously, something needs to get finalized very, very soon.
