Major League Soccer’s incoming commissioner Larry Berg said improving the quality of play and deepening the league’s youth-development pipeline will be central to his agenda as it seeks to build on momentum from the 2026 World Cup.
Quality and Youth Development
Berg, the Los Angeles FC co-owner and private equity executive, emphasized that “quality on the field is obviously number one” and that the league’s immediate priority must be converting heightened interest around the World Cup into lasting support, while ensuring the on-field product continues to improve.
He expressed a particular interest in making MLS academies and MLS Next Pro, the league’s developmental competition, more productive pathways to first-team soccer, which can help differentiate MLS from other North American sports leagues and strengthen the U.S. and Canadian national-team player pools.
Private Equity Concerns
Berg, who has spent more than three decades in private equity, sought to reassure fans wary of private equity’s growing role in sports, arguing that the industry should not be treated as a monolith and that outside investment can help soccer grow when structured appropriately.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
