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MLS formally announced the successor to longtime commissioner Don Garber on Tuesday. Larry Berg, the co-managing owner of LAFC, was selected out of an initial pool of 125 candidates and beat out former Fox executive David Nathanson during final-round interviews held earlier this week.
Berg met with the media on Tuesday after his introduction to discuss his new role and initial plans for MLS when he takes the reins from Garber on January 1, 2027. During a press conference, Berg addressed what is likely to be one of the most pressing issues facing the league in his first few years as commissioner: the future of MLS media rights.
MLS’s media rights agreement with Apple TV runs through 2029 after the league and streamer agreed to truncate the original ten-year deal by a few years after overhauling the arrangement, including removing the Season Pass paywall, prior to the current season. The initial deal with Apple paid the league an average of $250 million per year, while the new shortened arrangement pays out about $275 million annually.
Recent reports indicate MLS is looking to secure between $400 million and $500 million per year as part of its next set of media rights deals.
When asked about his plans regarding the league’s future broadcast arrangements, Berg largely demurred.
“Since we have a little time before the next media deal, it’s about finding media partners that want to co-create the future with us,” he said, per Sportico. “It’s about co-creating; what’s interesting to them, what’s interesting to us. How can we change certain things for their benefit?”
The incoming commissioner did, however, provide a timeline he expects negotiations to start by, and mentioned the financial might of hydration breaks as a potential lever the league could use to reach its revenue goals.
“My job is to sell the future and to paint what MLS can be. …If I can establish those relationships and they can engage—and I’ve been doing that already—then we’ll have a good time of it 12 to 18 months from now when we engage on the business side,” Berg said, adding that hydration breaks during the World Cup “were interesting in many ways.”
Many expect MLS to face an uphill battle during its next round of media rights negotiations. While the league has certainly improved the terms of its Apple TV deal by eliminating Season Pass, critics of the deal believe the league still does not have enough exposure with the vast majority of games limited to the Apple-owned streamer. It will be incumbent upon Berg to get MLS is more places where people are spending their time.
The post Incoming MLS commissioner Larry Berg discusses upcoming media rights negotiations, hydration breaks appeared first on Awful Announcing.
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