Overview
- MLS owners met in New York and voted on Monday to select LAFC co-managing owner Larry Berg, who will take office on January 1, 2027 while Don Garber moves into a chairman role.
- League rules require Berg to divest his ownership stake in Los Angeles FC before becoming commissioner to avoid conflicts of interest.
- Berg brings private-equity and club experience from Apollo and 26North, plus roles as LAFC co-managing owner and co-chair of MLS’s Sporting and Competition Committee and past stakes in AS Roma and Swansea.
- His immediate operational agenda includes overseeing a shortened February–May 2027 “sprint season” to realign MLS to a July–May wraparound calendar and evaluating proposed roster and salary-rule reforms.
- Commercial and labor priorities for his early tenure are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement for players and preparing for a media-rights cycle that follows the league’s current Apple TV deal, which expires in mid-2029.