Don Garber was never a soccer junkie. He didn’t play as a kid, and up until the late 1990s, he was less than educated on the sport.

But after attending the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup as a guest, he took a job as the Major League Soccer commissioner and became hooked on the game. And his goal is to reel in the rest of the country into soccer as well.

‘Soccer is an explosive sport here in this country in so many different ways,’ Garber said. ‘From a participation level, from a fan level, from an American player development level. The sport is still in its infancy … with a massive amount of growth in front of us.’

Garber gave an address, ‘The Creation of a Soccer Nation in America: Why the sport matters here in the U.S. and why it will matter more in the future,’ in Kittredge Auditorium Thursday evening. The MLS commissioner since 1999, Garber is also a member of the USA Bid Committee, which is trying to bring the 2022 World Cup to the United States.

The committee also features former President Bill Clinton, Brad Pitt and U.S. soccer stars Landon Donovan and Mia Hamm.

They all share the same sentiment Garber relayed Thursday: Soccer is a sport on the rise in America. And bringing the World Cup to the United States in 2022 — for the first time since 1994 — would help soccer grow rapidly.

Garber said it is important to continue supporting the grassroots development of soccer in the United States.

‘But if you can bring the biggest sports tournament in the world, with the best players in the world, to our shores, that will give us a jumpstart that nothing else probably could,’ he said.

Garber spoke to an auditorium at near-capacity, full of sport management majors and soccer fans. His presentation was split into two parts: the evolution of the MLS into a major professional soccer league and the effort to bring the World Cup to the United States once again.

The two topics go hand-in-hand. The biggest step that needs to be taken in building up soccer in this country is the transition from youth participation to adult fandom, Garber said. Too many former soccer players do not stick with the sport as fans after their youth, he said.

The goal is to be more like the four major sports — baseball, football, basketball, hockey — in the United States, rather than a sport with a mediocre fan base, such as swimming or cycling, Garber said. Soccer needs to be both a participation-based and a spectator-based sport to succeed, he said.

‘That’s what FIFA is going to be looking for to bring the World Cup here, and that’s what our league is going to be looking for to continue to grow the overall interest in our sport,’ he said.

The MLS was founded in 1993, but in recent years, it has taken its biggest strides under Garber. After the 2006 season, he created a youth development system affiliated with the league in which teams control their own youth clubs. During that same off-season, his designated player rule went into effect, which helps MLS teams sign European stars. The most famous signing occurred in 2007, when the Los Angeles Galaxy signed English veteran David Beckham.

Still, the league is not nearly on par with the top European soccer leagues. And to skeptics, soccer will not break through.

‘It can’t really compare to football and basketball and baseball,’ said Danielle Czysz, a junior sport management major. ‘Once it gets professional, people turn to their home football teams or home baseball teams. Things they grew up with.’

The vote determining the host of the 2022 World Cup will take place Dec. 2. The United States is competing with Australia, Japan, South Korea and Qatar for the chance to host the event.

If the United States wins the bid, Garber said he would get to work right away because it could lead to the breakthrough he’s been looking for.

‘We’ll have 12 years to build up momentum and have a long runway to continue to grow the sport,’ he said. ‘What could be better? I’d rather have the World Cup 12 years from now than have it next year.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on October 24, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr