Talking to media from around the world, Commissioner Garber discussed a wide range of topics including scheduling, playoff formatting, his vision for Major League Soccer and The New York Cosmos.
He stated that on his travels around the globe, "people seem to ask about two things, when are the Cosmos coming into Major League Soccer and how is David Beckham doing?"
Garber continued to say about the Cosmos that "there are a lot of things that need to happen before they purchase that team."
He revealed that "representatives of the new ownership group are coming to the MLS Cup, we have met with them several times.
Despite meeting with Cosmos ownership, Garber admitted that "we will continue to work with them but also many others. Until we are further along in the process we are going to speak to as many people as we can because that is the best way to assure we will get an ownership group that will have resources and be able to make the commitments to be good partners in Major League Soccer."
Commissioner Garber was straightforward in what the top issue was for New York City expansion. "The issue remains the soccer stadium. We have a full time person in this office working on the project. We have hired three consultants, attorneys, land use advisors and stadium designers and architects to work directly with the league to try to accelerate this process. We do believe that we have two or three sites that are viable and we are going to continue to work as hard as we can to move this as fast as we can."
Garber went on to say, "I for one, believe that the Cosmos are a great brand. We like the ownership group that has taken over... If they are able to satisfy all the things that we have for ownership requirements then I think that they can be good prospects. Right now it is very focused on a stadium."
The last question of the the teleconference was reserved for former New York Cosmos employee Charles Cuttone, who asked Don Garber to reflect on his time as league commissioner. Don replied stating that the 2011 MLS season "has over delivered on what are expectations were for this year. I never thought I would see 65,000 people at a regular season MLS game." He added that the scene in Kansas City for the playoffs "Literally brought tears to my eyes."
