Larry Berg owned a piece of Los Angeles FC. Now he gets to run the entire league. Sold his stake to avoid the conflict of interest. Makes perfect sense if you ignore that he spent years learning how to profit from the league's structure and now gets to redesign that structure.
Don Garber ran MLS for a quarter century. Berg takes over next year. The press release probably calls this a "seamless transition of visionary leadership." What it actually means is one guy who knew where all the revenue-sharing loopholes were gets replaced by another guy who literally used those loopholes.
Berg made his money in private equity. Bought into LAFC. Watched the team win a championship. Figured out exactly how MLS splits expansion fees and television deals. Now he controls the whole operation. It's like hiring the kid who found every exploit in the video game to rewrite the code.
The conflict of interest rules forced the sale. Can't own a team and commission the league. Fair enough. But the knowledge doesn't get sold with the stake. He still knows which owners are desperate. Which markets are bleeding cash. Which broadcast contracts are held together with duct tape and vibes.
Retail traders will read this as bullish for soccer stocks. There are no soccer stocks. MLS teams are privately held. You can't buy in. You can't trade it. You can just watch Berg run the league with the inside information he definitely no longer has any personal interest in.
Garber's legacy is turning MLS from a curiosity into a legitimate enterprise. Berg's legacy starts with selling his stake in the team he helped build. The ultimate exit strategy is getting promoted to the only job where your old position reports to you.
Photo by Emilio Garcia on Unsplash
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