Don Garber

Suiting Up with Paul Rabil

Paul Rabil

Sports, Business

5 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 April 2021

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Through its first 5 years of existence, Major League Soccer lost roughly $250M and the 6 original owners were on the brink of folding the league. Cue first time commissioner, Don Garber -- an executive without any soccer experience, with a vision to change the industry forever. That was in 1999. Today, franchises are selling for $325M each, MLS has major media partnerships with ESPN, Fox and Univision, and national sponsorships with Adidas, AT&T, AllState, Audi and Home Depot, to name a few. It's been a long, rough and windy road, and on the show Commissioner Garber and I discuss how he got here. From changing material rules on the pitch, to creating designated player exemptions that led to the acquisition of global superstars like David Beckham and Zlatan, to coalescing North American soccer properties to form Soccer United Marketing, to investing in ground-up stadium builds...we cover it all. This is one of those shows...if you're a young professional or major industry executive, listening to Don Garber will provide you with tips and insights on how to build or shape your career into one that's both effective and fulfilling.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everyone.
0:03.8	Welcome to an all new suiting up presented by public comment out systems.
0:07.2	This is episode number 11 of season three or 15 total.
0:11.2	We just announced that last week and I'm your host, Paul Ravel.
0:15.4	Today's show.
0:16.4	It's a one on one conversation with the commissioner of Major League soccer, Mr. Don Garber.
0:21.3	And I want to give you a little lead in Don's career.
0:25.1	It's a historic one in the business of sports.
0:27.3	We first started on the agency side of the house, then went to the NFL and an entry-level
0:31.4	marketing role.
0:32.7	He grinded all the way up to several executive positions before getting tapped by one of
0:36.7	the league's owners, Mr. Bob Kraft, to come build Major League soccer.
0:41.9	That was in 1999 and this was the time when soccer and the US was held together by the
0:45.8	World Cup.
0:47.1	Before the Premier League, La Liga, the Messies and Ronaldo's made their way to the US
0:50.9	via major network deals.
0:52.8	Later at the time, faced a ton of scrutiny, a bunch of stereotypes and trust me.
0:58.0	I know what that's like, how relatable it can be.
1:00.6	I play the cross.
1:02.0	And very few people were willing to invest, sponsor or even air the games.
1:07.0	Then Garber figured it all out with a lot of risks, major bets.
1:10.8	He amassed partnerships via a joint ownership model he created in North America called soccer
	...

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