NEW YORK — Larry Berg did not have to wait long to learn his fate. By the time LAFC co-owner Bennett Rosenthal and Columbus Crew owner Jimmy Haslam tracked him down at MLS headquarters in Manhattan on Monday afternoon, congratulatory texts were already flooding his phone. The final vote had been unanimous: Berg was the next commissioner of Major League Soccer.

Rosenthal and Haslam, who co-chaired the succession committee that selected just the third commissioner in the league's 30-year history, escorted the LAFC co-owner back into a meeting room where 28 other owners were waiting — and greeting him with a standing ovation. A celebratory dinner invitation followed, which Berg promptly declined.

"I got to work," Berg said. "I've got a lot of work to do."

A lifelong fan takes the reins

Berg, a former senior partner at private equity powerhouse Apollo Global Management, will transition into the role full-time beginning January 1, 2027, and was officially introduced to the media at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. Don Garber, who has served as commissioner for 27 years, will remain on as chairman through the end of his contract in 2027.

A lifelong soccer fan who grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey — and who once lost to U.S. World Cup veteran Peter Vermes in the high school state soccer playoffs — Berg says he has missed just one U.S. men's national team match, either in person or on television, in the last 40 years. He described the commissioner job as "a calling."

"It has been a passion my whole life, starting at 8 years old," Berg said hours before his introduction. "I've never known exactly why, but it's just always been really deep in my heart. I've always had this tremendous desire for soccer in this region to elevate, be better, ultimately maybe win a World Cup someday. But even before that, to win more (Concacaf Champions Cup) games... With Don's leadership, we've obviously built MLS to something that's pretty extraordinary, but I think there's so much upside left and I want to see that come to fruition."

A packed agenda awaits

Berg will have no shortage of immediate challenges. He takes over at the start of a "sprint season" ahead of MLS flipping its calendar to a summer-spring format — a change accompanied by significant alterations to the competition structure, including divisions and a new postseason format. League owners are also working on a new roster investment model, one that may need to be linked to a new collective bargaining agreement with the MLS Players Association. The current CBA expires on January 31, 2028.

Despite opposing viewpoints on the board of governors, Berg believes MLS can get the changes across the line before the 2027-28 season, pointing to a compromise he helped craft allowing teams to choose either three designated players or two designated players with extra cap space and an additional under-22 initiative slot.

"I feel everything is possible," Berg said. "That's one of my better skill sets, the deal-maker skills: be creative, galvanize people, bring them in alignment. It's not easy... You kind of run into these roadblocks, and then you find this unlock. And the challenge for me is to do that on a big scale, and to do it with 30 owners. And I'm looking forward to that."

He will begin working on those issues immediately alongside Garber. "The future of this league is in the hands of Larry Berg, and my role is to help him be successful," Garber said, adding: "We'll figure out what we need to do to execute on one of the most important transitional plans in the history of the league. If we get things done together, then we'll be successful." Berg called Garber "a great mentor to me the last few years."

"We have the clay": youth development and fan growth

Berg's passion for the U.S. national team has made youth development a central focus of his vision for improving the on-field product.

"We are, every year, (developing) more and more emerging stars, more and more contributors to the U.S. men's national team and the Canadian national team," he said. "Youth development is an incredible opportunity. We have the clay, but I think we can continue to make it so much better. More minutes for younger players... that's really high on my list."

Berg painted a clear picture of his growth philosophy: "The only way to really build this league is ultimately significant fan growth leading to significant media growth, which leads then to more significant fan growth and becomes a flywheel." He praised the current leadership for building "a live game-day entertainment experience, great stadiums, great crowds, great supporters' culture," but insisted the league "need(s) to take that next step and also create great fan growth outside the stadiums."

A new media rights deal will be central to that effort, with MLS's current agreement with Apple set to expire in summer 2029.

"My view is it's product first, right? It's quality on the field first. It's the playoffs. It's the divisions. It's the new calendar," Berg said. "And if we get all that going... it's almost like cheating, right? I have this 'rocket fuel' that Don talked about from the World Cup... Everybody's interested in talking about it. We're at the head of the table right now."

Inside the search for Garber's successor

The search began in earnest last fall when Haslam and Rosenthal were picked to chair a committee of owners that also included Cliff Illig (Sporting Kansas City), John Ingram (Nashville SC), Jonathan Kraft (New England Revolution), Joe Mansueto (Chicago Fire FC) and Oliver Mintzlaff (Red Bull New York). The committee hired Korn Ferry to lead the search and contracted CAA for its reach across the sports ecosystem, identifying 125 names.

"It was truly an international search from sports, business, technology, media," Haslam said. That pool was narrowed to 25, then 13, with candidates undergoing psychometric testing before the field was cut to six. Those finalists made presentations over two days in Chicago in June, producing a final three of Berg, former Fox executive David Nathanson and longtime San Francisco 49ers executive Paraag Marathe. The committee sought a "transformational leader" who could make MLS more locally, nationally and globally relevant.

After Marathe dropped out, Berg and Nathanson made final presentations on Monday ahead of the vote — with Berg, who had served as co-chair of the league's powerful sporting and competition committee, prevailing. "Congratulations to Larry Berg on being named the next Commissioner of (MLS)," Nathanson wrote on X on Tuesday. "Larry is an outstanding leader, and I wish him every success as he guides the league through its next chapter."

"Larry's a very capable executive," Haslam said. "Apollo is one of the top PE firms in the world, and he helped build that firm... We have 30 great owners and partners, but I think Larry, as an owner, has probably worked harder and spent more time with the league than any of us as owners."

Rosenthal highlighted Berg's "intellectual curiosity combined with... an incredibly high level of intellect and ability to negotiate deals," adding that Berg "proved his ability to collaborate with 30 owners" and "process everybody's needs and concerns... and drive to a decision." That consensus-building ability — and his capacity to do it quickly — will be paramount to MLS's success in 2027 and beyond.