Major League Soccer has three candidates standing between now and a post-Garber era: LAFC co-owner Larry Berg, former Fox executive David Nathanson, and 49ers and Leeds United executive Paraag Marathe. Owners are expected to vote in early August, with an in-person ratification meeting likely after the All-Star Game in Charlotte on July 29.
Garber's contract runs through 2027, but the board decided it needed a transition underway now. The timing makes sense — whoever steps in won't just be inheriting a league. They'll be walking straight into a CBA negotiation with the MLS Players Association that expires in January 2028, a media rights renegotiation, a calendar flip to summer-to-spring starting in 2027, and a complete overhaul of roster spending rules. It's a to-do list that would test anyone who'd spent their career inside the building, let alone someone coming in cold.
What each candidate actually brings
Berg is the early favorite among some owners and co-chairs the sporting and competition committee — the group handling the very roster and competition format changes the next commissioner will need to execute. He knows the board, knows the fights, and has been in the room for the hard votes. That familiarity cuts both ways, though. In a league where ownership has fractured on key issues in recent years, being known isn't always an advantage.
Nathanson's pitch is built around media. He was the Fox executive behind the network's successful bids for the 2018, 2022, and 2026 World Cup rights — a genuine track record in a room where MLS desperately needs credibility. The Apple TV deal was restructured last year, cutting the original agreement three years short and moving MLS back into open broadcast. The next deal, due in 2029, will define whether the league can close the gap with Liga MX, the Premier League, and Champions League in the American TV market. Several sources flagged the media rights negotiation as the central qualification for this job. Nathanson built his career doing exactly that.
Marathe is the wildcard with the widest CV. Twenty-five years with the San Francisco 49ers, currently running 49ers Enterprises and serving as Leeds United chairman since the NFL franchise took majority ownership in 2023. MLS's board already has a strong NFL contingent — the Hunts, the Krafts, Kroenke, Blank, the Haslams, Tepper, the Wilfs — and Garber himself came from the NFL. Marathe fits the cultural mold, and his Leeds role gives him something none of the other finalists have: direct exposure to how a European club actually operates in the modern transfer market.
Why the vote isn't a formality
Sources caution there's no clear consensus. MLS ownership has been increasingly split on major decisions, and this vote will reflect those fault lines. The candidate who secures it will likely be the one who convinces enough owners that they can handle whichever issue each faction cares about most — whether that's the CBA, roster rules, or the TV deal that will do more to shape MLS's long-term revenue than anything else on the agenda.
A committee chaired by Bennett Rosenthal and Jimmy Haslam, working with search firms Korn Ferry and The Miles Group, narrowed the list. As of earlier this week, not all owners had been formally briefed — but the conversation was already spreading at board level. The August vote is coming fast.
