MLS Commissioner Don Garber on Apple TV Deal, legacy of 2026 FIFA World Cup
Garber appeared on the U.S. Soccer Podcast to discuss all things MLS
Garber touched on everything from the media rights deal with Apple TV to the possible legacy of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil to his favorite USMNT moment.
Note: These answers have been edited for clarity
What do you think the 2026 FIFA World Cup legacy will do for MLS?
Garber: I don't think there's any shortage of interest in the game. The ‘94 World Cup is the most successful World Cup of all time, and it'll be eclipsed by the ‘26 World Cup. But how do we connect all that with those that are really trying to build the game for a better future, better opportunities for professional players, more opportunities for youth players, perhaps less pay to play, better infrastructure, both at the youth level and at the professional level. I think the overall interest in the World Cup is going to help drive that. From all the research we've done,every time there's been a World Cup in the modern era domestic leagues have grown by 15 to 20% in overall interest. So,I expect people will become more interested in MLS. But how do we get somebody who's engaging with a national team celebration to now be a fan of one of our clubs? And that's just work. We've got to do the work.
You’ve served as MLS Commissioner for more than 25 years. Looking back is there anything you would have done differently?
Garber: I can't even begin to tell you how many decisions I'd probably do differently. Most of it really is about preparation. When I think about what happened with Messi with the All-Star game— that could have been handled better by everybody if we had planned better, if the league had planned better, if the club had planned better, if better communication came from Messi’s camp. We would have avoided a negative situation. So even after all these years, I try to remind everybody in our shop, let's learn from the things that don't go right, and try to prepare — so the next time it happens — we can get it right.
You're three years into the broadcasting deal between MLS and Apple TV. What kind of value has that partnership brought to MLS?
Garber: Media is a core value, core equity of any professional sports league, and we were a second thought for most of the media partners that we've had over the years. I think the most important thing that doesn't get talked about enough is before the Apple deal, we had 60 different start times and schedule days in 2022. Sixty. How is any fan supposed to know when to watch a game? You know when the NFL is playing. You know when baseball is playing. You know that on certain nights there's going to be “Hockey Night in America.”We needed to narrow that down. So rather than have a game that a broadcaster would tell us, ‘Hey, the only window we have for you in Dallas is 12 o'clock noon in August, and that's when you need to play your game.’ Well, that's not a good way to manage your product, right? So we wanted first to be sure that we had the right ability to manage our schedule. We can do that with a streaming partner, and Apple has been great in that regard. The second is, we had all these local games. So remember, MLS only had about 100 national games. We had 500 local games, and those local games were all over the place, time-wise, media distribution-wise, we wanted to take all of them and treat every local game like a national game. It's production value, it's promotion, it's marketing. The Apple deal provides us with that opportunity. We have the benefit of having a great technology partner. What we need to work on collectively is, how do we ensure that enough people have access to our games? Is the subscription package the right approach? Is it price right? Do we even have a subscription?
This season marks the 30th year of Major League Soccer, and the league has changed a lot during that span. Where do you see MLS evolving in the next 30 years?
Garber: I do believe that MLS can be one of the top leagues in the world, if not the top league of the world. And you see what's going on now with LAFC just signing Son Heung-min, some of the better players in the world want to be here. Question is, when do we have them here? Some of the best young American players, young Canadian players coming up through our academies want to be here. Some of them stay. Some of them get sold on just like the rest of the world. Our facilities are among the best in the world. Our training grounds, the one in Philadelphia is one of the best in the world. So what we're really missing is, how could we compete on the field against the best clubs in the world? And that's really all about money. It's just about how big can MLS be, from a business perspective, to generate enough revenue to be able to do what all leagues do, which is pay players the vast majority of the money you earn. And if we're able to do that, able to create a dynamic where MLS is a much bigger enterprise, I think, just based on how good it is to live in our country, how popular our culture is, whether it's music, whether it's entertainment, it's our facilities, it's the health and welfare of our population overall, I see no reason why our league can't be a dominant league. I really don't. The only thing holding us back is, is our ability to fund salary budgets that they could fund at the top levels, in the five, six top European leagues?
Check out the full interview on the U.S. Soccer Podcast below:
US Soccer Podcast
Open Cup
On the Pitch
On the Pitch
Open Cup
