People and Pop Culture
Closing Shot: Garber’s Guidance
Two decades since being hired to lead Major League Soccer, Don Garber continues to build on his legacy as franchise values soar, cities vie to be expansion markets and stadium construction booms.
Don Garber (right) is introduced as commissioner by Stuart Subotnick, former chairman of the MLS board of governors, in August 1999.ap images
Mark Abbott was Major League Soccer’s first employee in 1993, and he’s seen it all during the league’s existence. That includes the time MLS almost folded in 2001.
Don Garber was two years into his role as MLS commissioner. Attendance and revenue were tanking. Bankruptcy papers reportedly had already been drawn up, only for one of the league’s team owners, Lamar Hunt, to coax the key parties into hanging on for another season.
It proved a savvy plea. Garber and MLS owners instituted a plan that called for disbanding the league’s two struggling Florida franchises while greatly increasing investment in almost every other facet of the league.
This month, MLS celebrates Garber’s 20th year in charge and the league has solidified in a way few would have thought possible in 2001.
“It’s the result of a lot of work by a lot of people, and the investment of a lot of capital,” said Abbott, the league’s president and deputy commissioner. “We wouldn’t be here without incredibly strong ownership. And over the last 20 years, it’s really Don that’s provided the vision and leadership that’s allowed us to get where we are.”
The league has grown steadily under the watch of Garber, a former NFL executive, reaching 24 teams with six more set to join in the coming years. Through games played Aug. 4 this season, average attendance has increased 47% since 1999 to 21,007, according to MLS data and Sports Business Journal research. Real Salt Lake paid a $7.5 million expansion fee in 2005; the next two clubs that join MLS will each pay an estimated $200 million fee. The average team value jumped from $37 million in 2008 to $240 million in 2018, according to Forbes.
Garber has pushed for investment in key areas, including soccer-specific stadiums. More than $3 billion in soccer stadium construction has occurred in the U.S. and Canada since he took charge, with another $1.4 billion already committed for future projects, according to SBJ data. Twenty MLS teams now play in such venues.
Soccer United Marketing, which oversees media, marketing, licensing and sponsorships for several soccer entities including U.S. Soccer and MLS, was born out of the 2001 crisis and has elevated professional soccer’s commercial rights value in the U.S. and Canada. Corporate sponsors hadn’t embraced the sport prior to SUM, but now, companies such as Coca-Cola, Audi, Adidas, AT&T, Allstate and Wells Fargo are MLS partners.
Abbott works more closely with the MLS commissioner than anyone. In Abbott’s mind, two aspects of Garber’s success during the last 20 years stick out: his unwavering optimism and ability to coalesce MLS stakeholders.
“He used that optimism to rally the ownership groups and the people who worked throughout the league to that common vision,” Abbott said.
Editor’s note: This story is updated from the print edition.
