Tag: Don Garber

Messi on turf? MLS commissioner Don Garber sure hopes not

Welcome to MLS, Leo

Lionel Messi’s MLS journey is going to be, among many things, a strange one.

MLS is an unconventional league after all, for reasons ranging from its rules, the time of year and range of climates games are held in, and so much more. That list of oddities includes games on turf, something that Messi will have to tackle at Inter Miami for the first time in his career.

Miami’s schedule for the rest of 2023 includes visits to face Atlanta United and Charlotte FC, both of whom play on plastic pitches in cavernous NFL stadiums. A deep run in the Leagues Cup could theoretically add another game or two against the other four teams that play on turf.

For MLS commissioner Don Garber, it’s a situation he hopes other MLS clubs will want to avoid.

In quotes published by The Athletic, Garber acknowledged that while the final say on whether Messi plays on turf will fall to the Argentina legend and Inter Miami head coach Tata Martino, he’s hoping that clubs will roll out a literal green carpet for the iconic No. 10.

“That’s going to be the decision of every club when they do travel to those stadiums that don’t have natural grass,” Garber said on the topic of a temporary grass surface being placed on top of existing artificial turf. “There have been no commitments one way or the other to that… my expectations are that that’s what they will do, but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to figure all of that out. MLS promotes a lot of international games and we have been able to bring natural grass into those stadiums, but we’ve never done that for a regular season game.”

Per The Athletic, at this point Atlanta and Charlotte have no plans to bring a temporary pitch in for Messi’s arrival.

Will Messi follow in Henry’s footsteps?

Garber cited some past global stars who came to MLS and, at least some of the time, opted to play on an artificial surface.

“I think a lot of international stars come into Major League Soccer and they are either intrigued or concerned about not playing on grass,” said Garber. “And then you see some of the best players who’ve ever played the game, the (Thierry) Henrys of the world and Kakas of the world, who played on turf. So I think that’s a process that will have to play out over time.”

Henry is something of a curious example for Garber to bring up, as the France and Arsenal legend did not play on nearly any of the turf surfaces around MLS. The New York Red Bulls played 16 competitive games on turf during his four-and-a-half MLS seasons, and Henry participated in just three: two appearances on the road against the Portland Timbers, and a playoff game against the New England Revolution.

Regardless, Garber admitted that the entire thing is a fast-changing situation, and that the league is placing its trust in Messi — who has said he will take MLS seriously — and his professionalism.

“I have great confidence in Messi’s professionalism,” Garber said. “I expect that he’s gonna want to do everything he can to play in as many games as he can. The operational aspects of that still need to be worked out.”

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2024 MLS All-Star Game awarded to Columbus Crew

Columbus will host the All-Star Game for a third time

The MLS All-Star Game is going back to Ohio.

MLS announced that Lower.com Field will host the 2024 All-Star Game, which will be played on July 17, 2024.

“We are pleased to award the 2024 MLS All-Star Game to Columbus, the third MLS All-Star Game for this terrific soccer city,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber in a public statement. Columbus had previously hosted the All-Star game in 2000 and 2005.

“In just over three years, [Crew majority owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam] and their partners have built one of the world’s best soccer stadiums, revitalized the club, and expanded the Crew fanbase. Columbus and Lower.com Field will be a tremendous host for the MLS All-Star Game and festivities.”

The opponent for the game has yet to be determined. After two years of taking on a Liga MX All-Star team, MLS has gone back to hosting a European giant, with Arsenal the opponent for the 2023 edition in Washington, D.C.

Events surrounding the All-Star Game will be announced at a later date, but will include an All-Star Skills Challenge along with additional events for fans, concerts, and more to be announced at a later date.

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MLS announces San Diego expansion team for 2025

Team No. 30 is officially going to San Diego

MLS is set to welcome its 30th team.

The league announced on Thursday that it will launch an expansion team in San Diego, with the new side beginning play starting with the 2025 season.

The expansion side will play at Snapdragon Stadium, which is also home to the San Diego Wave of the NWSL and San Diego State football. Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour — whose Mansour Group already owns Danish top-flight club FC Nordsjaelland — will lead the new team’s ownership group, which includes the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado, and other local investors.

“We are thrilled to welcome San Diego to Major League Soccer as our 30th team,” said MLS commissioner Don Garber. “For many years we have believed San Diego would be a terrific MLS market due to its youthful energy, great diversity, and the fact that soccer is an essential part of everyday life for so many people. Mohamed Mansour and the Sycuan Tribe have an incredible vision for building a club that will inspire and unite soccer fans throughout the city and region.”

The team does not have any links with the city’s existing men’s pro team, the USL Championship’s San Diego Loyal. On May 10, that club’s owner Andrew Vassiliadis released a statement saying that the Loyal “aren’t going anywhere.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the expansion fee required to join MLS is “in the $500 million neighborhood,” which would by some distance constitute a new league record. In 2020, Charlotte FC was widely reported to have put $325 million up to become MLS’s 28th team.

Garber had mentioned San Diego and Las Vegas as frontrunners back in February, while also making mention of Detroit, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Tampa Bay at a February event launching their new Apple TV broadcast studio.

Solid prospects for MLS in San Diego

MLS has figured out a lot about expansion best practices. Every league newcomer from 2015 onward has, from an attendance, exposure, and business perspective, been a healthy addition at worst. Los Angeles FC and Atlanta United in particular stand out as two of the best expansion teams in league history.

The 17-month runway San Diego has before they’ll have to start doing things like making draft picks and conducting a preseason is enough time for them to build a club infrastructure. That is undoubtedly the hard part, as expansion teams like FC Cincinnati and Charlotte FC have discovered.

There are other potential stumbling blocks. Snapdragon Stadium’s full dance card (they also host pro rugby) will be particularly difficult in the fall, when the college football season begins. As D.C. United and the Washington Spirit have found while sharing Audi Field with the XFL’s D.C. Defenders, football is very rough on a soccer playing surface, and unlike that groundsharing situation, the San Diego State Aztecs are the stadium’s primary tenant.

Beyond the competition for soccer fans existing with the new MLS side, the Wave, and the Loyal, there is also at least some history of San Diego having affinity for Liga MX. To some extent, locals have adopted Club Tijuana, whose Estadio Caliente is just 24 miles south of Snapdragon Stadium.

That said, between MLS’s ability to bring new teams online in recent years and the deep pockets behind this San Diego expansion franchise, it stands to reason that the new team will enjoy a launch similar to that of the Wave, who despite being in only their second season hold the top two spots for single-game attendance in NWSL history.

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MLS commissioner Garber on U.S. Open Cup: ‘We need to get better’

Garber has the same gripes about Open Cup streams that many fans do

MLS commissioner Don Garber has been watching the U.S. Open Cup, and he’s not at all happy with what he’s seen.

Speaking at a U.S. Soccer board meeting on Friday, Garber was up front about his disappointment with the presentation of this year’s Open Cup.

“From our perspective, it is a very poor reflection on what it is that we’re trying to do with soccer at the highest level,” said Garber. “Some of the games that we’ve been playing in are on sub-par fields. I would say that they’re not games that we would want our product to be shown to a large audience. So frankly, I’m not all that disappointed that the audience is small.”

Garber also repeated a very common complaint seen online heading into Open Cup match days.

“The games are hard to find,” said Garber of a tournament whose games have been broadcast on a hodgepodge of Bleacher Report Football, CBS Sports’ Golazo Network or U.S. Soccer links on YouTube, team-run streams on Eleven Sports or club websites (and in some cases, radio only). “I’m telling you as an actual viewer, the reaction from our ownership, from our team presidents and even our fans in terms of being able to find the games.”

Garber concluded with a blunt assessment. “I appreciate the enthusiasm about it, but we need to get better with the U.S. Open Cup. It’s just not the proper reflection of what soccer in America at the professional level needs to be.”

USSF chief commercial officer David Wright, who was presenting updates on the Open Cup to the board, acknowledged that U.S. Soccer’s oldest tournament needs work.

“I think we concur,” said Wright. “We understand that the Open Cup is not where we all want it to be, and we’re committed to getting there. It also takes resources… it is a natural opportunity to take a step back now, particularly that we’ve got a renewed interest from media partners, which I think is a critical component to this.”

Broadcast troubles grew in 2023

In most of its recent history, the Open Cup has been difficult to follow. However, last year’s tournament saw every game available to stream on ESPN+, alleviating two of the main issues fans and stakeholders have had this year. While some streams didn’t include enough cameras or ideal viewing angles, it still represented a high water mark for the Open Cup.

U.S. Soccer’s broadcast deal with ESPN ended this winter, however, and the federation’s new partnership with Turner Sports saw a move away from that straightforward broadcasting model. Issues over where to find the games should be alleviated to some degree in the upcoming round of 32, with U.S. Soccer confirming that all 16 games will be streamed either through Bleacher Report Football, CBS Sports Golazo Network, or U.S. Soccer-run broadcasts.

However, in the first three rounds — which represent the bulk of the Open Cup’s games — Turner selected just eight games from each round for Bleacher Report Football broadcasts, leaving significant gaps in coverage. Teams have often been left to figure out a solution, which in some cases have been borderline incomprehensible or were otherwise too glitchy to follow with ease.

Wright’s presentation contained some positive news. Broadcast issues notwithstanding, the Open Cup has shown some remarkable growth, with a 178% year-over-year increase in unique viewers during the first three rounds of the tournament.

U.S. Soccer plans on holding a U.S. Open Cup summit this summer with the stated aim of improving the event while maintaining that growth. Broadcasting issues — whether in terms of best practices, proper resources, or finding a dedicated partner to focus on the tournament from start to finish — figure to be top of the to-do list.

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Messi could be biggest athlete in US sports history, per MLS’s Garber

Garber on Messi: “We would love him in Major League Soccer”

Lionel Messi “can be bigger than any athlete of any sport that has ever played here in the United States,” but he has to actually play in the U.S. for it to happen.

That’s the perspective of MLS commissioner Don Garber, who spoke to the Associated Press Sports Editors on Tuesday. Garber hasn’t been shy about how much he wants Messi to come to MLS, and that is clearly still the case.

“I can tell you that we would love him in Major League Soccer,” Garber said in a response to a question from CBS Sports. “There isn’t a league that wouldn’t like to have Lionel Messi in their league.”

For Garber, the key for MLS is “to come up with a program for him that will allow him to establish a legacy that I think could be unprecedented globally, let alone unprecedented here in our country.”

“I think of him as someone who crosses so many barriers that he can be bigger than any athlete of any sport that has ever played here in the United States,” said Garber, immediately putting Messi in a class with superstars like Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams, and Tiger Woods (not to mention putting pressure on MLS to get closer to the NFL and NBA in terms of national and international importance).

MLS ready to get creative for Messi

Garber was open with the fact that a hypothetical move to MLS would see Messi join Inter Miami, and that the league will almost certainly have to come up with new rules (or break existing ones) to make it happen.

“We will work very hard with Miami, who is the team that is hoping to be able to sign him,” said Garber. “We have been pretty effective at coming up with clever ways to sign players for our clubs in the right market.”

On that count, Garber isn’t just engaging in big talk. MLS invented new league rules to allow the LA Galaxy to sign David Beckham, ushering in the Designated Player era in 2007. Beckham’s contract included what turned out to be a massive discount on the expansion fee for Inter Miami, proving that time is something of a flat circle when it comes to MLS.

Clint Dempsey’s return to the league in 2013 involved MLS reportedly covering a $9 million transfer fee. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, signed a deal to play for the Galaxy at a discount in 2018.

A year later, Ibrahimovic would sign a new deal that paid far more, though that season eventually saw the Galaxy sanctioned by the league for violating salary budget rules by hiding payments and future agreements that would have made Carlos Pavón a DP that year as well. Miami — a club that has already been punished for breaking league rules on that front — would have to hold up their end of the deal within whatever new mechanisms MLS might come up with.

Garber conceded that nothing is done, and that MLS and Miami face a competitive market when it comes to courting Messi.

MLS had felt confident they could land Messi in the winter, but in December Messi was reportedly closing in on a contract extension at Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona say they would love to bring Messi back to the Camp Nou, but given their financial mess they’re probably a long way from making it happen. Messi has also agreed to sponsorships in Saudi Arabia, a country with plenty of clubs that would like a star to rival Al Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

“There are a lot of dynamics that are going on there,” noted Garber. “He’s got a lot of things to think about in terms of where he wants to continue his career… It’s very real-time and I hope that we’re able to get in front of the discussion and hopefully bring something over the finish line.”

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MLS expansion: San Diego and Las Vegas likely finalists for team 30, Garber says

The race to be team 30 appears down to just two cities

The race to be the 30th team in Major League Soccer looks like it’s down to San Diego and Las Vegas.

At a media event in New York on Wednesday, MLS commissioner Don Garber said the two cities were the most likely finalists as the league aims to decide prior to the end of 2023.

Garber added that although he’s previously said the league would pause after naming its 30th team, he was very much open to the possibility of expanding beyond that number in the years to come.

The commissioner gave an update on the league’s plans ahead of St. Louis City joining as the 29th team for the 2023 season.

“We have teams across three time zones, multiple climate zones, so we do need more teams,” Garber said. “The 30th team will come at some point soon. We would like to get that announced by the end of the year.

“Never thought we’d be at 28, never thought we’d be at 29, we say we’re going to stop at 30 but the other [American] major leagues are larger than that. I don’t ever say never in Major League Soccer.

“There are many other markets that are opportunities for us. I think San Diego and Las Vegas are the most likely opportunities for [team] 30. But we don’t have a team in Phoenix, we don’t have a team in Sacramento, we don’t have a team in Detroit — all big markets in our country. Tampa is another big city.

“Soccer is exploding professionally everywhere on the men’s and women’s side. So we’ll see.”

Garber talks up San Diego and Las Vegas

Garber naming San Diego and Las Vegas as likely finalists isn’t a major surprise, as he called both a “priority market” in an interview this month with Sports Business Journal.

“Las Vegas remains a priority market for us,” he said. “We love the energy in the city and all the focus on how sports can provide real value for an increasingly growing city. We are in discussions with investors on how they could come together, whether it be in a soccer-specific stadium or an alternative approach, but nothing new to add there.

“We’re also engaged in discussions with investors in San Diego about possibilities there. I love the market, it is a gateway city to Mexico, and with our increased programming and increasingly closer relationship with Liga MX, San Diego is a priority market.”

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MLS commissioner Don Garber says no league pressure on Merritt Paulson to sell Portland Timbers

“There was nothing that came out in the report that would have us think any differently”

Merritt Paulson may be under pressure from NWSL fans to sell the Portland Thorns, but MLS is not about to push him to sell the Portland Timbers.

Commissioner Don Garber, answering questions from reporters during his annual State of the League address ahead of MLS Cup, rejected the possibility that MLS could look into urging Paulson to sell his majority stake in the Timbers.

“We at this time don’t see any reason at all for Merritt to sell the Timbers,” said Garber when asked directly about whether the findings of the Yates investigation into misconduct in the NWSL had made MLS reconsider Paulson’s viability as an owner.

Supporters in Portland have been calling on Paulson’s Peregrine Sports, the corporate entity that actually holds his shares of the two clubs, to sell for months. The Yates investigation revealed that on Paulson’s watch, club employees gave positive recommendations for former coach Paul Riley when asked about his past by the North Carolina Courage. The Yates report also stated that Portland had “interfered with our access to relevant witnesses and raised specious legal arguments in an attempt to impede our use of relevant documents.”

The Timbers side of the organization also drew intense criticism for its handling of the domestic abuse allegations against former player Andy Polo, which included re-signing him despite knowing about the charges against him. In that matter, MLS fined Portland for failing to inform the league of the accusations in an expedient fashion.

Last month, Paulson stepped down as the CEO of both the Timbers and Thorns, and left the door open to possibly selling his stakes in the clubs. The organization also fired Gavin Wilkinson and Mike Golub — the presidents of soccer operations and business operations, respectively — in the aftermath of the Yates investigation.

Garber, however, gave a solid endorsement of Paulson’s moves since the news began to break in 2021, indicating that from MLS’s perspective, there is no need to pursue an enforced ownership change.

“Obviously, Merritt has very publicly acknowledged the mistakes that he and the organization has made. You know, he’s taken responsibility for those decisions that he’s made,” said Garber. “I think that the steps that he’s made, in terms of stepping aside and bringing in a new CEO, and the termination of two long-term employees — which we supported — were steps in the right direction. So, there was nothing that came out in the report that would have us think any differently from what I just stated there.”

That’s a stark contrast with other powerful voices. Multiple sponsors announced plans to either reconsider their financial pacts with Portland, or in the case of Alaska Airlines, redirect a quarter’s worth of sponsorship to the NWSLPA’s Support the Players Emergency Trust.

The question of whether Paulson should sell the Thorns was posed at last month’s Oregon gubernatorial debate, and all three participants answered in the affirmative.

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Don Garber says 2023 MLS All-Star Game opponent, format up in the air

MLS’s next All Star Game may require a new format

MLS and the Liga MX All Stars battled it out in Minnesota Wednesday night, but Don Garber admitted at halftime that next year might be different.

Speaking to ESPN at halftime, Garber admitted that with MLS ramping up its relationship with Liga MX, there may be less of a need to play a Liga MX All Star team next year when the event comes to the District of Columbia.

“We have done such a really focused, strategic partnership with Liga MX, trying to build CONCACAF into being one of the dominant confederations in the world, not just really in our region,” said Garber, who highlighted the massive crowds at SoFi Stadium for the two Leagues Cup showcase matches held there last week, which saw LAFC and Club América play to a scoreless draw and the LA Galaxy beat Chivas 2-0.

Those showcase games took the place of a full Leagues Cup, but in 2023 the plan remains to pause for a full month and involve every club from both leagues.

“So you’re going to see the launch of that in (2023). It’s going to be, just transcending what anybody ever expected,” said Garber when asked whether the Leagues Cup meant a change in All Star Game format was coming. “I’m not sure we need that for our All Star Game. You’ve got Campeones Cup coming up in September in New York City. So we’ll see what next year in Washington, DC looks like when D.C. United hosts, but you know, I’m not quite sure.”

The MLS All Star Game has been through numerous formats over the years, with an East vs. West format being favored for most of the league’s early years before eventually being replaced by, in most years, a match against a European giant. 2021 was the first year MLS faced a Liga MX All Star team, winning on penalties.

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Q&A: MLS commissioner Don Garber discusses media rights deal with Apple

The commissioner and Apple executive Eddy Cue took time for a brief interview with Pro Soccer Wire

MLS commissioner Don Garber and Apple’s senior vice president of services Eddy Cue took time for a brief interview with Pro Soccer Wire ahead of the announcement of the league’s new 10-year media rights deal with Apple.

This interview has been lightly edited for content.

PSW: Take us through the process that you’ve gone through over the last year or so in getting this deal done. Obviously, you’ve been in talks with a number of different networks and streaming services. Could you share any details about how the talks went?

Garber: We set out on a strategy years ago to in essence, have an expiry of all of our local game agreements, rights agreements, our data agreements, our global agreements, which allowed us to start thinking about how do we put all of our rights together and go to market in a unique way that could offer a global package. Eddy has said that no other league has ever come to him and has been able to offer every game without any blackouts, without any restrictions. And that limited the number of people that could even deliver on that.

We have great longstanding partners that we’ve been in discussions with for many years. But when we were thinking about our fans, our fans are digitally native. They’re streaming sports – over 85 percent of them are watching sports on streaming devices on a weekly basis, more than any other sport anywhere in the world. It made sense for us to target the one company who can deliver for us this unique, unprecedented, global partnership that would have us being able to rethink what is a traditional rights deal … There are so many opportunities here that basically are unique to Apple. So it’s very rare when you go in and say, ‘We’ve got one company that we’re trying to get interested,’ and then you get them interested.

PSW: As part of this deal there will still be some games on linear TV. Can you share any details on how the arrangement will go, considering that Apple now has the rights for every single game? Will networks have to pay Apple to broadcast individual games?

Garber: It’s too early to give any details and it’s a limited number of games. So, we’ll have stuff to talk about in the period of time in front of us, but too early for any details right now.

PSW: One thing that really stuck out about this deal is the length. This ended up being a 10-year deal. There was some speculation that maybe the league would try to do a shorter deal and have it expire either right before or right after the 2026 World Cup to try to capitalize on the huge interest that event is going to bring. So what was the reasoning behind a relatively long deal in this case?

Cue: It’s easy for me: We love creating great products and we’re going to do that together here and we’re committed to this for the long term. It’s like we’re not dating, we want a long-term relationship. What we’re trying to do together is truly innovative. We’re really comfortable and excited about the opportunity to work together and doing that over the long term. Obviously, it makes perfect sense. Why would you do anything else? So it was it was pretty easy for us.

Garber: We’re building a business together, right? Everybody in our industry has got to think about this through a different lens. It’s not just a rights deal, then you get into discussions on renewal right after that. We’re building a business together. And the best way to build a business together is to be committed for the long term, because you have ups and downs along the way and the markets are evolving. The transition over to streaming is developing and all of that has to be seen through the lens of long term.

PSW: One of the big questions with this deal, because all the local deals are expiring, is who’s going to produce these games? This is a huge investment and whether it’s Apple or MLS or a third party there’s a lot of speculation about who might be involved in the production. Do either of you have any insight to share in terms of who might be producing all these games now?

Garber: I can’t give you who yet but what I’ll tell you is that we had 30 different productions this year. Think about that. Different announcing teams, different trucks, different above the line, talent below the line. The inefficiencies of that and the lack of being able to create a consistent product from a quality perspective to a global audience just made no sense to us. So yes, we made that commitment to produce those games.

We want to be able to control the look and feel of our games, how they’re presented to fans, and then partner with a company that will elevate that in ways that we could never dream of. And I think you’ve seen some of that with [Apple’s] early days with baseball. The best days are really ahead for us sitting down with Apple and their innovative approach to technology, fan engagement, customer engagement. So lots of opportunity there.

PSW: Another thing that stuck out about this deal is that the English and the Spanish-language rights are packaged together, whereas in the past, MLS has done these deals separately. Why did it make sense to tie them together in this particular deal?

Cue: We wouldn’t have done it any other way. It’s not English and Spanish, it’s around the world. We want to do this everywhere. And so English and Spanish are obviously the first and the biggest ones, we’ve also got French in Canada. From our side it’s about every game everywhere. And language is a part of that.

Garber: We’re rethinking the way we go about presenting our content and our games to our fans. You think about in the years to come, what will that look like? We want to be able to be local on a global basis.

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Por racismo, MLS toma el control de la venta del Real Salt Lake

La MLS obtuvo el control total de la venta del Real Salt Lake tras acuerdo con antiguo dueño por asuntos racistas y sexistas

Luego de que venciera el plazo para que el actual dueño del Real Salt Lake, Dell Loy Hansen, hiciera la venta del club, la MLS obtuvo el control total de la transacción y serán sus directivos los encargados de conseguirle nuevo dueño a la franquicia.

Recordar que la venta del equipo procede tras una investigación por conductas racistas y sexistas del propietario del Real Salt Lake, donde se determinó su responsabilidad y como son el tipo de valores que no promueve la MLS, ambas entidades acordaron la venta de la franquicia, así lo explicó Don Garber, comisionado de la MLS.

“Descubrimos que el Sr. Hansen se había involucrado en una conducta inapropiada para el lugar de trabajo. Francamente, fue contrario a los valores de la MLS. Creo que fue contrario a los valores del Real Salt Lake. Se ha resuelto y Dell Loy ha acordado con nosotros que vendería al equipo, y ese proceso ha comenzado. La liga se ha hecho cargo del proceso de venta a partir de esta semana, hay mucho interés en comprar ese equipo”, dijo Garber a los medios de comunicación.

El principal candidato para adquirir al equipo de la MLS, que viene en paquete con el de la NSWL y la USL, es el dueño del Utah Jazz, Ryan Smith, quien según The Salt Lake Tribune lleva ventaja sobre otros interesados como Simon Shaner y Powdr Corp.

Foto portada vía © Jeffrey Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

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