March 25 – “More teams, more fans, more stadiums, more revenue and way more coverage by media partners.”
That is what MLS commissioner Don Garber expects of the league over the next 10 years. Garber is unlikely to be there for the full implementation of what he calls MLS 3.0 as he is exiting soon, but the expectations for growth are clear.
Speaking at the opening session of the Sport Business Journal Business of Soccer conference in Atlanta, Garber pointed out that football (soccer) is “the most diverse of all sports in the US” and that the legacy from hosting the World Cup in the US this year, will be “to make our sport as important as any other sport (in the US)”.
That will mean bettering the current benchmark figures of 15% of Americans identify soccer as their favourite sport and 9.7 million who watched the opening of the weekend of the MLS season.
US Soccer Federation president Cindy Parlow Cone echoed Garber’s legacy ambition but tempered the bullishness saying there is also considerable ‘spiritual’ growth to come. The key driver of that is the engagement of US fans and a commitment to their men’s national team and its players beyond the four-year World Cup cycle.
“We are focussed on what comes next,” said Parlow Cone. “We want every kid in the US to have access to our game.”
Concacaf president Victor Montagliani, who was key member of the team that won the hosting bid for 2026 takes a different view of what the legacy will look like.
“I look at legacy as taking more of a human aspect. For me it is if 2026 inspires the next generation and they are still enthused by the game in 20 years… it is about the jersey that is closest to your skin.”
What all of them are agreed on is that World Cup 2026 will be seismic.
“You can feel it in the cities. You can feel it in all three countries. There is the sense that something big is coming,” said Montagliani.
“This will be the biggest tournament this country has ever seen,” said Garber. “It is going to shock the world. Our sport (in the US) will build culturally and foundationally.”
Part of that build is the increased international outlook for the US game and understanding that opportunity.
Montagliani has an international message for the MLS in that respect. “The MLS is less important that the Concacaf Champions Cup,” he said. “Clubs need to be international. They have international stars and we need to push the envelope as a confederation and push clubs to be relevant internationally.”
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