We’ve got MLS Commissioner Don Garber! On Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, our hosts sit down with MLS Commissioner Don Garber to take a look at Major League Soccer – from the impact of stars like Lionel Messi, David Beckham and Thomas Müller, to the 2027 calendar change, the AppleTV deal, and whether or not he will retire from MLS when his contract expires in two years. 

Plus, they dive into whether promotion and relegation will come to America, the relationship between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer, and how MLS can get more Americans playing in the league. 

In the AT&T Mailbag, Tim and Producer Jordan are talking about whether to call it “soccer” or “football” and tackle a fan’s suggestion that teams be separated before set pieces are taken. 

New episodes of Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim drop every Tuesday. Subscribe to the show on YouTube and follow on all your favorite podcast platforms. For bonus content and to send your mailbag questions in to the show, follow on all social media platforms @UnfilteredSoccer. (https://www.unfilteredsoccer.com). 

Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard is presented by Volkswagen. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4g8bZG3.  

Thank you to our additional sponsors: 

AT&T. Connecting Changes Everything. Visit https://att.com/guarantee to learn more. 

Coors Light. Choose Chill. Get Coors Light delivered. Go to CoorsLight.com/USLNT 

Try new Café Bustelo roasts today at cafebustelo.com. 

This episode of Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard was recorded at Quad Studios in NYC. This episode was edited and mastered by Andrew Hartley, Adam Braunstein, Jeremy Steinkamp, Carlos Sepulveda, and Sammy Strittmatter, with engineering support from Eric Newell. Our producers are Andrew Gundling and Jordan Rizzieri. Our social media lead is Dan Armelli and our social editor is Kyle Curley. 

00:00 Intro  

1:45 Don Garber joins the show!  

2:52 State of MLS  

5:16 Messi and Beckham impact  

13:33 NHTSA Crossroads  

15:56 Vancouver's stadium situation  

23:20 Roster construction  

28:58 Americans in MLS  

38:54 Promotion/relegation in MLS?  

47:30 MLS calendar change  

50:48 Coors Light Unfiltered Refresh  

53:19 Apple TV deal with MLS  

59:13 MLS after World Cup  

1:02:28 End of Garber's MLS contract  

1:09:44 Recapping our interview with Don Garber  

1:14:31 AT&T Fan Connection 

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