Don Garber

National Football League

Garber spent 16 years with the National Football League, finishing his tenure as the senior vice president/managing director of NFL International, where he oversaw all aspects of the NFL's business outside the United States, including the NFL Europe League. Garber began his career at NFL Properties in 1984 as a marketing manager and became the League's director of marketing in 1988. In 1992, he was appointed the NFL's senior vice president of business development and was responsible for a variety of television, special event and marketing activities.

MLS Commissioner

Garber was appointed as Major League Soccer commissioner on August 4, 1999, succeeding Doug Logan. One of his first moves as commissioner was to bring the league more in line with the international standard, eliminating the shootout and having the referee keep the time on the field. In 2004, MLS also eliminated overtime and the three-plus-one substitution rule used since the league's inception. This enabled teams to substitute three field players as well as an additional goalkeeper. "This decision reflects our focus on continuing our alignment with the world's game," said Garber at the time.

MLS Growth

Garber has emphasized gradual, sustained growth of the league over decades rather than attempting grandiose moves to win headlines. Before Garber came into the Commissioner's office, the league had only one team in its own stadium, Columbus Crew SC, whose MAPFRE Stadium was built by Lamar Hunt in 1999.

On Dec. 7, 2001, Garber met with club owners at the Colorado ranch of Philip Anschutz in order to establish a plan to ensure the league’s survival. Among the concepts agreed upon was building soccer-specific stadiums; establishing what would be known as Soccer United Marketing – an agency designed to manage soccer content in the U.S.; and pursuing (and ultimately winning) broadcast rights to the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. The entire summit led by Garber at the Anshutz ranch is regarded as a critical moment in the eventual rise of MLS.

Soccer-Specific Stadiums

Following Columbus Crew SC's lead, and after the summit at Anshutz’s ranch, MLS clubs soon began building soccer-specific stadiums. The new venues enhanced the game-day experience for fans and granted teams full operating control of the stadiums and greater shares of stadium revenue.

In 2003, the "cathedral of American Soccer," the Home Depot Center, was built to house the Los Angeles Galaxy, and both senior national teams. Four more soccer-specific stadiums were built by the start of the 2007 MLS season. Within 10 years, by the start of the 2017 MLS season, 16 of the league's 22 clubs were playing in soccer-specific stadiums or venues renovated with soccer in mind.

Soccer United Marketing

Soccer United Marketing (SUM), one of the game-changing ideas borne out of Garber’s meeting with club owners at the Anshutz ranch, was established in 2002 and controls all sponsorship, licensing and advertising sales for MLS and other premier soccer properties in North America, including US Soccer and the Mexican National Team.

SUM’s first deal was the purchase of the English-language rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups for $40 million and to have the games broadcast on ESPN, splitting advertising revenue with the network. A decade later, FOX Network paid more than ten times that amount for the same rights.

SUM continues to increase its partnerships. In 2016, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) selected SUM to market and service its worldwide sponsorship rights. Today, SUM is valued at more than $600 million.

Expansion

Through a detailed and comprehensive expansion process, Major League Soccer grew under Garber’s leadership from 10 teams in 2003 to 22 teams in 2017. The league’s plan is to expand to 28 clubs in the coming years. The cost of expansion franchises has risen steeply during this period. Toronto FC paid an expansion price of $10 million in 2006. The cost for franchises to join MLS in its next wave of expansion is a reported $150 million.

Franchise Valuation

As the league has expanded and established a footprint across North America with successful clubs in Seattle, Portland, Toronto, New York and Atlanta, among many others, team valuations have soared.

When Forbes first released valuations of MLS clubs in 2008, the average team value was $48 million. In 2017, Forbes reported that the average value of an MLS club was $185 million – a 400 percent increase in nine years.

Designated Player Rule

At the conclusion of the 2006 season, MLS created the Designated Player Rule, or "Beckham Rule.” The rule enables clubs to sign up to three players whose total costs exceed the maximum salary budget charge.

Garber stated that fan research was one of the driving forces behind the decision to institute the Designated Player Rule. Garber and the league's owners also acknowledged that MLS needed additional "marquee" players to boost interest and the long-term strength of the league in a quicker fashion. The rule made it possible for clubs to an international icon like David Beckham with the LA Galaxy in 2006, or current stars like Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco of Toronto FC, to larger contracts.

The strategy for signing Designated Players has evolved in recent years. Whereas clubs were more likely to use the rule to sign older, brand-name stars from Europe toward the perceived latter stages of their careers, teams began to utilize it to acquire younger, rising stars. For example, Seattle won MLS Cup in 2016 in part behind the strong play of 26-year-old midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro, who was signed as a Designated Player.

When Atlanta United FC joined MLS in 2017 as an expansion club, its Designated Players were 23-year-olds Miguel Almiron and Josef Martinez, and 22-year-old Hector Villalba.

Youth Academies

The implementation of high-level player development initiatives has been a hallmark of Garber’s stewardship of the league. In 2006, the league mandated the creation of youth development systems and declared that any player developed by a team could be signed by that team without the player having to go through the MLS SuperDraft. In 2010, MLS required each of its teams to establish youth amateur programs separate from the pro club. Players registered for at least 24 months in an MLS youth program became eligible to sign a pro contract with that team without entering the SuperDraft.

With a true foundation in place after a decade, homegrown players like the New York Red Bulls’ Tyler Adams, FC Dallas’ Kellyn Acosta and Portland Timbers’ Marco Farfan have emerged. Smaller-market clubs like Sporting KC have been able to develop their own stars from local communities.

And in 2018, the Under-18 club of FC Dallas proved how far it had come in a relatively brief time by winning the Super Group division of a tournament over the academy teams of top international clubs.

Canada

MLS expanded into Canada mid-way through Garber’s tenure. Toronto joined the league in 2007, Vancouver in 2011 and Montreal in 2012 and all established successful MLS clubs.

The league has signed multiple, long-term broadcast agreements with Canada’s sports networks. In January, 2017, MLS extended its deal with TSN for five years and signed a new five-year contract with the French language network TVA Sports. This was in the wake of a banner year for Canadian teams in MLS in 2016, as Toronto FC defeated the Montreal Impact in the Eastern Conference Final.

In 2017, the league enacted a major change in policy. A limited number of Canadians would now be counted as domestic players. Previously, Canadian players only counted as domestic in MLS if they played for one of the three Canadian-based franchises. The change was part of a collaboration with the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) and executives from the three Canadian teams to improve youth development for Canada. Another aspect of the collaboration was a Canadian-specific Generation Adidas program to improve development of young players. The league and CSA work together to identify Canadian players who could be signed to contracts and made available in the MLS SuperDraft.

Media Rights Agreements

As MLS has grown in scope and popularity, the league’s media rights deals have seen major increases. In 2014, the English-language rights to MLS and U.S. Soccer matches were sold to ESPN and FOX for $75 million per year for eight years. Univision won the Spanish-language rights for $15 million a year. The combined average rights fee of $90 million per year for eight years for ESPN, FOX and Univision represented a massive increase from MLS’ previous broadcast deals, which averaged $18 million per year.

MLS also signed new international TV agreements in 2015, including deals with Sky Sports, Eurosport and Globosat.

In 2017, MLS sold rights to league games to networks in India, Australia and New Zealand. In total, MLS matches can be seen in more than 170 countries.

MLS has also been at the forefront of innovation in media among global sports leagues. In 2017, Facebook signed a deal with MLS and Univision to stream at least 22 matches during the regular season and exclusively stream 40 “Matchday Live” shows with highlights and analysis. The games are streamed on the Facebook page of Univision Deportes and the shows are available on MLS’ Facebook page.

Sponsors

Furthering the league's financial well-being is the landmark decision to be the first professional sports league in North America to allow sponsor's names on the front of jerseys. Real Salt Lake signed the first agreement with XanGo in 2006 for an estimated $4–5 million over 4 years. Teams now generate multimillion-dollar sponsorships for their jersey-front sponsorships. Most jersey-front sponsorships run between $1 million – $5 million per year.

In addition, major brands such as Coca-Cola, Heineken, Audi, Johnson & Johnson, Continental Tire, All-State and Kellogg’s have signed league-wide sponsorships in recent years.

Ownership

During Garber's tenure, ownership has been dramatically diversified. In 2001, there were just three investor-operators in the league: Philip Anschutz's Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) controlled six teams, Lamar Hunt's Hunt Sports three teams, and Robert Kraft one team. When AEG sold its remaining interests in Houston Dynamo in 2015, the then 20-team MLS became for the first time a league without multiple-team operators.

Garber champions “diversity of thought” among club owners in the current era of Major League Soccer. They range from Atlanta United FC owner Arthur Blank, the founder of Home Depot; NYCFC ownership groups City Football Group (which also owns Manchester City of the Premier League) and the New York Yankees; Brazilian businessman Flavio Augusto da Silver, who owns Orlando City SC; entrepreneurs Merritt Paulson (Portland Timbers), Andrew Hauptmann (Chicago Fire) and Anthony Precourt (Columbus Crew); and Seattle Sounders owners Joe Roth, Paul Allen, Drew Carey and Adrian Hanauer.

Among the owners of LAFC, which begins play in 2018, are Magic Johnson, movie studio CEO Peter Gruber and U.S. Soccer icon Mia Hamm Garciaparra.

Garber detailed his view of the league’s quality of ownership in a 2013 interview with Sports Illustrated: “It is about expanding our geographic footprint, trying to have more and more people on a national level engaging in soccer generally and Major League Soccer specifically. It’s about diversity of thought around our board table and having more committed investors. It’s about more jobs for players and administrators and all those other things that make Major League Soccer more valuable.”

Influence in sports business

Don Garber has been ranked by Sports Business Daily as one of the 50 most influential people in the U.S. sports business every year since 2005.

MLS W.O.R.K.S.

In 2007, Garber formed MLS W.O.R.K.S, the league's community outreach initiative, dedicated to addressing important social issues affecting young people throughout America and Canada.

Personal

Garber is married, has two adult children and lives in Montclair, New Jersey. He serves on a variety of professional and philanthropic boards, including the Committee for Club Football at Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). He is Vice President of Hope and Heroes, an organization raising funds and creating programs for pediatric cancer patients at the New York Presbyterian Hospital.