The numbers come first. In one 24-hour window, U.S. Soccer locked in head coach Mauricio Pochettino through 2030 on a deal supported by a philanthropic leadership gift from Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, and Major League Soccer named Larry Berg — a roughly three-decade veteran of Apollo Global Management — as its third-ever commissioner, succeeding Don Garber.
Griffin doubles down on American soccer
Griffin is the lead donor behind Pochettino's extension, according to a person familiar with the gift. Additional support comes from Scott Goodwin, Adam Freede, and several commercial partners. It is the second time Griffin has stepped up: his earlier gift helped U.S. Soccer secure Pochettino ahead of the 2026 World Cup. No taxpayer appropriation. No federal sports authority. Private conviction writing the check.
Berg brings the Apollo playbook to MLS headquarters
Berg rose to senior partner at Apollo before joining 26North, the private equity firm backed by Josh Harris, in 2023. He also holds a co-ownership stake in LAFC, one of the league's marquee franchises. At a press conference at MLS headquarters in New York, Berg cited his private equity background as a direct qualification for the commissioner's chair.
'So I do think there's a lot of characteristics in private equity that apply to other things,' Berg said. 'It's about sense of urgency. It's about rolling up your sleeves, being in the trenches, asking good questions, aligning people toward a common goal.'
Bennett Rosenthal, co-founder of Ares Capital Management and LAFC co-owner who co-chaired the succession committee that selected Berg, drew a precise distinction between how private equity operates in standard corporate settings versus sports ownership. 'Private equity and quote regular business comes in and generally takes control of the company on more than 50%, installs their own management team, makes necessary changes to benefit the shareholders,' Rosenthal said. In sports, he noted, 'private equity is a great source of capital… but the most they can own is 30%, and they have no governance rights.'
Berg himself framed the commissioner's role in governance terms. 'At the end of the day, this is a governance job with 30 owners and a lot of constituents,' he said. Outgoing commissioner Garber had personally recruited 28 of those 30 current owners, according to succession committee co-chair Jimmy Haslam, owner of the Columbus Crew.
Haslam credited Berg's financial background with building confidence across the ownership group during the search. 'Larry's private equity background, and the understanding of factors of success, meaning people, process and culture, it's what we built at LAFC,' Haslam said. 'That really helped get our partners in the league a lot of confidence that Larry's going to be able to collaborate, take in a lot of data and make great decisions.'
What the market is saying
The pattern here is not coincidental. When free enterprise leads — a hedge fund founder writing a philanthropic check, a private equity veteran stepping into an executive chair — accountability follows capital. Griffin's gift is not a grant administered by a sports bureaucracy; it is a named commitment tied to a specific coach and a specific result. Berg's mandate is equally concrete: govern 30 owners who, as he noted, 'invested when there were no guarantees.'
American soccer's path to relevance has not been paved by a ministry of sport or a federal development program. It has been built by private owners willing to absorb risk and private donors willing to write checks without a government backstop. That model — capital rewarding clear goals, accountability flowing to those who fund results — is exactly what the league is now institutionalizing at the commissioner level. The market has already voted.
