| Don Garber |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT DON GARBER | |
| 1957 births | |
| garber, don | |
| living people | |
| american businesspeople | |
| major league soccer executives | |
| american football executives | |
| nfl europa executives | |
| jewish businesspeople | |
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Don Garber (born October 9 , 1957 ) is the Commissioner of Major League Soccer , succeeding Doug Logan in 1999. Previous to this, he was employed by the National Football League as head of NFL International. His first move as commissioner was to bring the league more in line with the international standard, eliminating the shootout and letting the referee keep the time on the field. Overtime and a fourth keeper sub were the only surviving non-standard rules, and both would go after the 2003 season. After the 2001 season, Garber contracted two teams, the Miami Fusion and the Tampa Bay Mutiny , which helped lead to the financial stabilization of the league. Among his accomplishments is creating a consistent timeslot for league games (Soccer Saturday), and putting an emphasis on Soccer-specific Stadium s. He has also played a big role in the improving financial shape of the league, which lost $34 million the year before he arrived. The league now sells more than it buys in the transfer market; Garber admitted that one of his biggest mistakes was buying Luis Hernandez for $4 million. Don Garber is already known in the MLS for his new strategy of improving the league's fortunes by building its future through stadiums, new broadcast rights fee deals, more extensive internet revenue streams (MLS Auctions, MLSLivetv, etc), a steadily improving quality of play by developing more American players from an earlier age by MLS clubs, and for the steady expansion of the league from its more troubled days around the beginning of the millennium. Under Garber's leadership, the survival of MLS appears secure, and the young league looks set to grow through expansion, improved attendance, and better TV coverage. It is today more a question of how fast the league can expand than a question of it ever making a profit. Many believe that with the upcoming broadcast rights fee deal the MLS is negotiating, the league may for the first time ever be making an overall profit, thus making it vastly more enticing to invest in for possible new owners. Should this occur, Don Garber may be overseeing a dramatic shift in the American sports landscape. One in which soccer becomes America's fifth sport after American Football, Baseball, Basketball, and hockey, and may some day replace hockey as America's fourth sport. Time will tell if Garber's cautious optimism of the league's future is indeed justified. He has been nicknamed "The Don" by his colleagues. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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