WASHINGTON -- MLS commissioner Don Garber hailed the league's progress over the past season, stating that while he wouldn't rule out adopting relegation and promotion, any decision is years or decades away.
"There's no real point of saying never because I don't know what the future would look like," Garber said about promotion/relegation on Thursday night during a news conference at D.C. United's Audi Stadium. "I certainly never thought we would adapt to the international calendar."
Garber cited the significant owner investment in stadiums and training facilities, along with the league's competitive balance, as reasons for maintaining the current structure. He noted, however, that he appreciated the ability of Inter Miami, who will contest MLS Cup against Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, to "break through the clutter."
"Maybe as the development of the lower divisions continue to grow, as they've been doing so well over the years, there will be a proper ecosystem. I'm not sure. Frankly, I don't believe that ecosystem can exist today, but who knows?'" he added. "I've learned never say never. That doesn't mean we're having promotion/relegation anytime soon."
Among the metrics Garber cited about the league, he mentioned a 15% increase in revenue compared to 2024, as well as a 30% viewership increase on all its platforms during the regular season and 23% during the playoffs.
"We are in the midst of a dramatic, generational change. Soccer is now an American pastime," he said.
Garber also reiterated what he is calling "MLS 3.0," which includes building stadiums in Chicago, Miami and New York, and a change to a summer-to-spring season starting in 2027 that will mirror the European calendar.
"We're not just aligning with the world's best, we aim to compete with them," Garber said. "We're in the midst of the most exciting period with the sport we ever could have imagined, at all levels."
When asked how the roster rules might need to change, Garber avoided going into details, stating that, "We'll do whatever it takes, and we've shown evidence that we'll take risks and some of those risks work and some are going to take a step back in competition."
Garber was less enthusiastic about the situation in Vancouver, where the Whitecaps' lease with home venue BC Place expires at the end of the year, and progress on acquiring a site for a new soccer stadium remains slow.
Vancouver's owners announced in December that the club was for sale. Greg Kerfoot has owned the team since 2002, 11 years before it started play in MLS. Steve Luczo, Jeff Mallett and former NBA star Steve Nash joined Kerfoot in 2008.
"The MLS team, its owners, its fans, its players have done everything to earn the support that they're not getting today from the city and from the province and that's an untenable situation," he said.
"What we have there has to change. And right now, we're not necessarily on a path to do that. ... We had a very positive meeting with the mayor. We're looking at getting a better lease at BC Place right now. There's been no movement on that, and it's been a month.
"We are in the business of delivering for those people that really, really want to have an MLS team that they can love and embrace. And that's not just fans. They've done that," he added. "You need to have cities and provinces do that, and we're still waiting to see whether they'll be able to deliver. And if they don't, we're going to have to make some tough decisions."
MLS announced recently that its games would move to Apple TV's main subscription service after existing as MLS Season Pass, an additional subscription under the Apple TV umbrella. The two sides also agreed to end the agreement early after the 2028-29 campaign. Garber didn't view this switch as a defeat, but more as a case of staying flexible if some aspects of the deal weren't working.
"Good businesses think about having the planning and strategy to go into making the right decisions and having the courage to pivot, to evolve those decisions, if it's not delivering everything that we're looking to deliver," he said.
"We had a deal that was a revenue-sharing deal based on the subscriptions. When that went away, we sat down, didn't take a lot of time, and said, 'Let's redo our deal,' and that has a different term and some other elements. They couldn't have been better to work with. They couldn't have been smarter to work with. They've been great partners."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.