MLS commissioner Don Garber opens up on the future of league expansion, more

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http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2016/09/15/don-garber-mls-expansion-landon-donovan-miami-beckham

MLS commissioner Don Garber opens up on the future of league expansion, more

MLS's commissioner addresses the race for expansion teams 25-28, timetable details and Landon Donovan's comeback, answering a wide array of questions.

Brian Straus

Thursday September 15th, 2016

“When I look at what’s happening across the U.S. for the most part, because I think we’re fully expanded in Canada, and you see markets like Austin and San Antonio, San Diego, St. Louis, Sacramento, Las Vegas and Cincinnati, these are big cities that have fans that already are engaged with the sport at some level professionally. I don’t know how we don’t provide those fans and owners and municipalities the opportunity to be involved in MLS. We’ve got to be smart about it, careful about it.

“I go to sleep at night continually thinking that we should not make the mistakes of the [original] NASL or other leagues that have expanded too quickly. It would be a shame to take our eye off the ball. But I don’t think we’re at that point yet. It’s 28 teams for us. We’re a long way from 28. We still haven’t finalized our 24th team [Miami]. That gives us five more teams to fill over the next however-many years.”

SI.com asked Garber to provide an update on several current MLS markets seeking stadium solutions and then more detail on the expansion landscape

Will the Revolution be playing in their own, soccer-specific stadium in five years?

“I believe so, and I’d be shocked if they weren’t.”

Has New York City FC, now in its second season at Yankee Stadium, made any progress on a home of its own?

“NYCFC is a great MLS team. It’s proven that the [New York] market can support two clubs. The Red Bulls are better because NYCFC is in town. More people care about the sport in a very important city. The rivalry breaks through the professional sports clutter in the Tri-State area. Both teams are performing very well competitively. Both teams have focused academy and development programs. Both have great commercial partners. And we waited many, many years for the Red Bulls to get their stadium situation resolved and it’s going to take quite some time in the case of NYCFC. But they are laser focused on it.

“The partnership with the Yankees is very strong. The games are fun and packed with passionate fans. For now, it’s working really, really well.”

. . .

On progress, or lack thereof, in Miami

“Miami has been a challenging situation for us for many years. We are as close as we’ve been, though that hasn’t changed over the last couple of months. We are still working with the investor group to finalize their stadium situation and to solidify their total ownership structure. It has taken more time then all of us had hoped. But one way or another, we feel like we’re getting close to the end of the process.”

What were Beckham, Leiweke doing talking MLS expansion in Las Vegas?

Note: Garber added that David Beckham and Tim Leiweke, who are spearheading the Miami MLS effort, attended a spring event in Las Vegas supporting construction of a potential stadium for the Oakland Raiders because of their relationship with Sheldon Adelson and Las Vegas Sands, not because of an interest in operating their own MLS club in the city.

On potential locations for teams No. 25-28

“I don’t think there’s any market that’s done more than any other, other than Sacramento, which clearly is MLS ready. But we can’t finalize anything there until we know what our overall expansion plan and timeline is. But St. Louis and Detroit, San Diego, San Antonio, Austin, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, all are very viable markets with some level of completeness: stadiums, ownership groups …. Sacramento is wired pretty tight right now.”

Insider notes: MLS sets expansion draft rules, eyes moving player combine to L.A.

On how MLS found itself admitting two Uniteds, Atlanta and Minnesota, in 2017

“Each team has got to determine what’s the best possible brand for what they’re trying to achieve in their market and how they’re trying to position their club to their fans, their partners, etc. No one could argue that Atlanta United hasn’t been a massively successful launch at all levels. That team is doing really well. And the more time I spent with [Minnesota majority owner] Bill McGuire and [team president] Nick Rogers and the rest of their ownership group in Minnesota, the more I realized they had a really strong point of view that the brand they had launched in the NASL was uniting two cities and it was effectively resonating among their fan base.

Minnesota remains 'United' after all, will enter MLS as 2017 expansion team

“The decision was, Atlanta came in before we finalized the deal with Minnesota—before we knew we would finalize the deal. [Atlanta] did research and wanted that name and we approved it. While there was some time when I was personally very resistant to the Minnesota name, the more work we did in the market, the more time we did fan research, spoke to all their various constituents, we all realized it was a strong brand and they deserved and earned the right to keep it.”

. . .

On whether MLS can do more to boost or promote the U.S. Open Cup

“I think this tournament should be bigger, more important, more valuable for everybody. It represents the totality of the soccer pyramid—something that’s talked about a lot in the soccer community. The economics of it have changed a bit. I think that’s a positive. I think the [U.S. Soccer] Federation is getting more focused on raising it to a higher level. The fact that [the final is] on ESPN is great.

“I hope the Federation does more and more on that. They raised the prize money, and I think it could be and probably should be even more than that. Why not? If a lower-division team wins it, I think that money really matters.

“There’s a challenge with our calendar … How do we manage all the things that need to take place and how do we prioritize all the competitions? It’s really hard. But we’re not exclusive in those challenges … For us, it’s something we’re going to continue to have to manage—perhaps have larger rosters when we can manage that financially and competitively. But it is what it is. I’m not sure there’s much more we can do short term.”

. . .

On the future of the CONCACAF Champions League. There had been some progress made toward revamping the competition’s calendar and perhaps staging it over the calendar year before 2015, when U.S. Department of Justice investigation and indictments forced an overhaul in regional leadership

“It is very important to [MLS] and I can only say that when [new CONCACAF president] Victor Montagliani made his acceptance speech in Mexico, he talked about the things that were important to the various members of CONCACAF, and when it came to the United States, he talked about his willingness to work on the CCL calendar to that we have a tournament that works for all clubs, particularly the two leagues that are driving a lot of the value.