Newly elected future Major League Soccer Commissioner Larry Berg hit all the expected notes in Tuesday’s introductory press conference, from expressing appreciation for the leadership of outgoing MLS Commissioner Don Garber to declaring his optimism for a “new chapter” of the league and stating his affection for the hot post-World Cup topic of youth development.
But the more revealing information about the possible direction of Berg’s tenure may lie in his background as a founding owner and lead managing partner of Los Angeles Football Club, which entered the league in 2018 and instantly became an MLS standard-bearer.
LAFC Set A New Standard
More than arguably any other club in MLS – including David Beckham-owned and Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami – LAFC has operated as a club single-mindedly obsessed with fielding the best-possible roster and winning the most-possible trophies within the confines of league rules.
The club’s first-ever signing was Carlos Vela, a revolutionary acquisition not because he was a Mexican star of considerable pedigree, but because he was still firmly in his prime at age 28. Its most recent big splash set a new league record with $26.5 million paid to Tottenham Hotspur to secure Son Heung-min. He instantly became one of Southern California’s most recognizable athletes in a region with the nation’s largest South Korean population.
More importantly, but less obviously, LAFC has jumped headlong into the international transfer market to acquire and sell talent, in a league where that arena had long been underutilized.
Including loan fees, LAFC has made 23 player acquisitions costing at least $1 million since building its first roster for the 2018 season, according to Transfermarkt. The club has made 19 sales netting at least that much in the same timeframe.
LAFC’s Approach Validated
And LAFC’s leave-no-stone-unturned approach to team building has been validated by regular sellouts, four major titles and consistent contention on the domestic and continental stage. While they have yet to capture a Concacaf Champions Cup crown, they are the only MLS side to reach two finals.
Just as importantly, this approach has been validated by the market. Five years after its founding, LAFC was the first MLS club valued at more than $1 billion, according to Forbes. It remains the second-most valuable club in the league behind Messi and Beckham’s Miami.
In short, LAFC has been the epitome of the aggressive, proactive club and ownership group that critics of MLS have said there isn’t enough of, one that has demonstrated that twin priorities of running a financially and competitively successful club are in fact symbiotic, in an era when some teams still operate as though they are at odds with each other.
What Berg’s Election Means
That Berg emerges as only the third commissioner in MLS history after securing a two-thirds supermajority in a closed-door vote on Monday suggests that latter collection of less ambitious clubs is increasingly in the minority. He will officially take over on Jan. 1. And it would be extremely surprising if MLS under Berg shows more financial caution than MLS under Garber, even though Garber certainly tried to push the league away from its most conservative instincts.
Garber deserves enormous credit for stabilizing and growing a league that was downright wobbly when he took the reins from Doug Logan in 1999. But MLS’ biggest successes in his time have come off the field, in building stadium infrastructure, expanding from 10 to 30 teams, and attracting highly marketable but aging stars. Where MLS must grow is attaining a level of competitive success and rigor that its financial might suggests.
If nothing else, Berg’s background suggests he is more likely to agree with this assessment than not, and perhaps be less sympathetic to the league’s lagging clubs — often those that survived the lean early days — than was Garber.
While Garber navigated early uncertainty, he still had to survive it. Berg comes without that baggage. And perhaps his tenure will come with a bit less caution for caution’s sake.
