{"id":574806,"date":"2026-08-04T19:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T19:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/574806\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T19:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T19:56:14","slug":"new-mls-commissioner-says-promotion-and-relegation-wont-be-coming-anytime-soon-mls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/574806\/","title":{"rendered":"New MLS commissioner says promotion and relegation won\u2019t be coming \u2018anytime soon\u2019 | MLS"},"content":{"rendered":"

MLS will have a new commissioner starting in 2027, but don\u2019t expect the league to adopt the promotion and relegation system seen in league systems throughout the world anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Larry Berg, a co-owner of MLS club Los Angeles FC and the league\u2019s incoming boss, said in his introductory press conference on Tuesday that he doesn\u2019t think that the long-mooted idea of bringing \u201cpro\/rel\u201d to the North American league is \u201cappropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can understand the appeal for the fans, [but] I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a great way to build a league, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a way to get stadiums built, get training facilities built, and to have owners invest in rosters and all the other things you need to do,\u201d Berg said. \u201cSo the great thing about promotion\/relegation for fans is that the jeopardy is quite severe. But I think there are other ways to create jeopardy during the regular season, [and] again in the playoffs, during the playoffs to get to the next round. That\u2019s what we want to focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n

MLS, which began play in 1996, is unique among global soccer leagues because of its single-entity structure, which see the central league office holds the ownership rights of all the teams and player contracts. This structure was a key role in reducing risk and attracting the league\u2019s first investors. Promotion and relegation, too, was not implemented both because there were not enough teams to make it viable, and also because of the risk it posed to team owners, who not only controlled their own team\u2019s operations but also acted as investor\/operators for the league itself. The US has a second division league \u2013 the USL Championship \u2013 but the two organizations have not shown any inclination toward working together since MLS teams pulled their reserve teams out of the USL after the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

MLS has grown from as little at 10 teams at the turn of the century to 30 in 2026 \u2013 a rapid period of expansion that has raised the possibility that the league may continue to expand and enact an internal version of pro\/rel; an MLS1 and MLS2, if you will.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s appropriate for our league,\u201d Berg said. \u201cI think [outgoing commissioner] Don Garber has said before, \u2018never say never,\u2019 but I just don\u2019t see it happening anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments stood as the most direct policy statement Berg made in his first public appearance as the commissioner-elect, which came in front of a small theater full of MLS employees and a handful of journalists. Garber, along with succession committee co-chairs Jimmy Haslam (co-owner of the Columbus Crew) and Bennett Rosenthal (co-owner of LAFC), also attended the press conference.<\/p>\n

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Berg was elected to the post in a meeting of MLS owners on Monday, concluding a process that Haslam said started with \u201c125 different men and women\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome were in sports, some were in media, some were in technology, some were \u2018just in business,\u2019\u201d Haslam said.<\/p>\n

That search eventually narrowed down to Berg and David Nathanson, a former Fox Sports executive. Berg, in addition to his co-ownership of LAFC, also holds a minority stake in Italian Serie A side Roma and Welsh side Swansea City, who competes in the English league system, last reaching the Premier League in the 2017-18 season.<\/p>\n

Berg also has a long history in private equity, working for 30 years at Apollo Global Management and last serving as a senior partner at 26North. Asked by the Guardian if his private equity background would influence is approach to the job of commissioner, Berg said he thinks it will be an advantage as he looks to speak to the \u201cexperts in the room\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think there\u2019s a lot of characteristics in private equity that apply to other things, which is not a surprise. It applies to everything,\u201d Berg said. \u201cIt\u2019s about a sense of urgency. It\u2019s about rolling up the sleeves, being in terms of asking big questions, aligning people for a common goal \u2026 at the end of the day, this is a governance job with 30 owners and a lot of constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MLS will have a new commissioner starting in 2027, but don\u2019t expect the league to adopt the promotion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-574806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}