🗣️ The key quotes from the MLS Commissioner's state of the league address

MLS Commissioner Don Garber gave his annual 'state of the league address' on Friday before attention turns to the MLS Cup final between the LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls in Carson Saturday afternoon.

Garber is not one to mince words when it comes to the current state and direction of Major League Soccer, and his press conference Friday afternoon was no exception.

Here are some of they key quotes the commissioner.

On the future fixture calendar: "We are considering more than ever before this opportunity to make a change [to the calendar]. We've got a lot of work to do, that work is ongoing.

"We will take off for the World Cup in 2026, and we will take off for a portion of the Club World Cup in 2025. Specifics will come in the next week."

On future roster restriction changes: "We're working on ways to provide teams with more opportunities to be competitive [with the rest of the world from a roster building standpoint].

"There's discussions going on [about increasing team spending cap]. I wouldn't put it in the category of significant. I don't anticipate anything significant happening in the next few years."

On MLS' participation in the U.S. Open Cup: “We will participate in the U.S. Open Cup again next year. We will likely have more teams, but it is going to be nearly impossible for all teams to participate in all tournaments.”

On Apple TV viewership: "We're very pleased with the numbers. We have over a million viewers watching those games on a Saturday night. That's more than we've ever had watching a regular season match.

"We have more free games now than we did prior. We're not doing enough to communicate it. We've got to work with our partners to get more and more exposure to what we think is a great product."

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