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NYCFC 1-1GOAL

‘New era for us’ - NYCFC CEO Brad Sims on Christian Pulisic, Romelu Lukaku and Mo Salah links, the Larry Berg era and solving MLS’s TV problem

With a $780 million stadium on the way, NYCFC CEO Brad Sims tells GOAL why the club is ready to chase stars and what MLS must do to take its next step.

Alex Labidou

  • Aug. 4 marked a monumental day in Major League Soccer history, as the league formally introduced Larry Berg as the successor to long-serving commissioner Don Garber.

    Starting in 2027, for the first time in nearly 28 years, the North American top flight will be helmed by someone new. And Berg is taking over at a crucial time for the league.

    North America is fresh off hosting a 104-match World Cup that generated unprecedented levels of revenue and viewership for FIFA. For MLS, that tournament only heightened an important question: How can a challenger league turn that momentum into a bigger place in the sports landscape in the United States and Canada?

    Brad Sims, New York City FC’s CEO, hopes his club can be at the forefront of that challenge.

    Three weeks ago, Sims announced that NYCFC’s sparkling new $780 million stadium, Etihad Park, will open on July 17, 2027. That will complete a decade-long search to fulfill a promise the club made at its founding - that it would, in fact, play in the city of New York. He credits the club’s ownership group for delivering on one of the most expensive soccer-specific stadiums ever built.

    “[It’s a] testament to our ownership group who is privately financing the entire stadium project,” Sims explained to GOAL. “[They] never kind of gave up hope and faith that we would find a spot inside the five boroughs to build because I think it's part of the brand promise of New York City FC.”

    But infrastructure has largely become one of MLS’s strengths over the past decade. Now, the challenge is furthering the league's visibility in the crowded sports landscapes of the United States and Canada.

    Sims believes Berg can continue Garber’s work in that regard.

    “We’d like to congratulate Larry Berg on becoming our next Commissioner and look forward to working with him as he prepares to lead MLS into its next chapter,” Sims said to GOAL in a statement. “He will guide the league with distinction at such a pivotal moment in its history.”

    In Sims’ mind, though, solving MLS’s long-standing challenges with TV and media rights will ultimately determine how far the league can grow.

    “It’s really the one hole we have,” Sims insisted. “I think it’s going to be way high on the radar of the next commissioner for sure.”

    MLS’s current agreement with Apple, its primary broadcast partner, ends after the 2028-29 season. Part of the league’s appeal when that next media-rights conversation arrives will be the stars it can attract - and NYCFC are making no secret of wanting to become a power player in that regard.

    For years, NYCFC have largely relied on the vast scouting network they share with Manchester City through City Football Group. David Villa remains the club’s defining marquee star, with the legendary Spain international winning MLS MVP honors in 2016.

    But Sims, whose current NYCFC squad is headlined by USMNT goalkeeper Matt Freese, has made no secret of his desire to bring in stars such as Christian Pulisic as the Etihad Park era approaches. The ambition isn't simply to contend, which NYCFC have regularly done since joining MLS in 2015, but to be mentioned alongside LAFC and Inter Miami as one of the league’s most prominent franchises.

    “It makes sense for us to have a signature player or players on the team in this new era for us,” Sims explained. “We’ve talked about Pulisic before, and there are others [like him] that I think would be interesting.”

    NYCFC had previously been linked with former Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, who has since signed with Trabzonspor, as well as Romelu Lukaku, who reports suggest could be headed to Atlanta United FC. Yet Sims insists there is still plenty of time remaining in the current MLS transfer window - and NYCFC intend to be active.

    “We’re definitely [trying], there’s 30 days left in this window,” Sims said Tuesday. “It just depends on when a player is available and wants to come.”

    Yet stadiums, stars and media rights weren’t the only things top of mind for Sims. The executive also touched on potential changes to the league’s salary cap, whether MLS teams need to be more aligned on spending, competition structure and more in the latest GOALConvo, a recurring Q&A with central figures in the American soccer scene.

    NOTE: This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

  • ON NYCFC’S NEW STADIUM

    NYCFC new stadium Etihad Park
    NYCFC

    Sims says NYCFC are aiming to make their $780 million stadium the cathedral of American soccer.

    GOAL: I was researching where Etihad Park ranks globally in cost, and it’s among the most expensive soccer-specific stadiums ever built. What does that signify for you?

    SIMS: [We promised] we were going to build the first-ever soccer-specific stadium in the five boroughs of New York City, which isn't easy and isn't inexpensive…We never looked anywhere else. Could the price tag have been a lot less if it was done years ago or if it was done in the suburbs? Yeah, but credit to [our ownership] for being steadfast and delivering on that promise. But with that comes big responsibilities.

    We know we’ve got to generate revenue, and it gives us an opportunity as a club that we’ve never had before. Professional clubs, not just in MLS but across the five major leagues in the U.S., really drive their revenues on a local level through corporate sponsorship and premium hospitality.

    Premium hospitality for the Yankees and Mets is where it should be [for baseball]. The best seats for baseball…for soccer, those seats are terrible. The worst seats in baseball, the cheap seats kind of at the outfield wall, those are the best seats for soccer. They don’t have amenities because in baseball they don’t [need to]...So the most impactful assets from a partnership standpoint, we never had access to until now…

    For us, [we’re] really building a new business and [will be] able to monetize a building 365 days a year versus 17 days a year…It's a blessing to have what we believe is going to be the cathedral of soccer, the best and most authentic soccer experience in New York City for sure, and we believe in the country.

  • ON MLS’S NEW COMMISSIONER

    Larry Berg, MLS
    Major League Soccer

    Sims says building on Garber's success and fixing MLS's TV problem will be key for Larry Berg.

    GOAL: What’s the biggest challenge for MLS’s next commissioner?

    SIMS: The biggest challenge is they're going to have big shoes to fill because Commissioner Garber has done a tremendous job. I mean, he's built this league from scratch. The league is in a really great place, and Commissioner Garber deserves a ton of credit for that…

    The biggest challenge is just figuring out how do we keep improving on this?...There are going to be changes to the competition format that have to be formally released and shared, but that’s going to be happening in the near future as well. I think [they’re] going to be exciting changes…They’re also working through what the player salary cap/player model is going to look like in the future. There’s a groundswell of support to simplify the system a bit - there are so many acronyms…

    GOAL: So no more TAM, GAM, [jokes] YAM, DAM, [laughs]?

    SIMS: I think to kind of simplify that…And then how do we find the best path forward to a more impactful broadcast deal, or deals? I think it's definitely going to be a big topic for the next commissioner for sure.

    GOAL: You bring up TV, which feels like the one thing that has continued to hang over MLS. The league has struggled to build a consistent TV audience and generate significant media-rights revenue. How important is it for the next commissioner to solve that?

    SIMS: Super important. It’s really the one hole that we have. Both the league and the 30 clubs are really punching their weight when it comes to almost every aspect of the business operation. Attendance - MLS is, for two years running, the second-highest attended league in the world behind the English Premier League. We've been able to attract the greatest player of all time, [Lionel Messi], into our league.

    There are so many positive things that we have going for us in this league, and really that’s the one hole. And if you think about other global soccer leagues, it's almost the inverse. [Most] don’t really have amazing sponsorship or even ticket revenues, premium hospitality [or] infrastructure, but a lot of them have huge broadcast businesses….

    I think it's going to be way high on the radar of the next commissioner for sure. It continues to be high on the radar of 30 owners.

    GOAL: One topic that has been brought up as the league discusses salary cap structure is the idea of a salary floor like what you see in the NFL and NBA. Do you think it would be beneficial for MLS to enforce a minimum spend for clubs?

    SIMS: It’s tricky because, from my position, I believe owners should have the ability to not lose money…The problem is that a lot of owners are losing money.

    So when you see fanbases say you should be spending more money in a market that’s losing a lot of money, and you can potentially lose even more money, I don’t think that’s fair…I think it's a chicken-and-egg kind of situation where if owners knew there were more compelling broadcast revenues, then there’d be more likelihood to want to spend more discretionary dollars…

    [On our end] we’re going to have a big revenue opportunity and [our ownership] is happy to reinvest [that] into the team. Whether that’s on the pitch, in the facility, or the fan experience. And if we can do that in a way that allows us to have the big recognizable names and expensive players and works within the construct of everything else, then we’re all for it.

    [But for the rest of the league] it’s such a tricky question because I can’t in good conscience say that other owners should willingly lose more money to get a higher quality of play. And broadly speaking, the quality of play across the league is significantly better in 2026 than it was in 2021, and it’s much better than it was in 2016. The question is if you try to take it on a steeper trajectory, does that result in better or worse profitability? No one really knows. Can you make that back in ticketing, sponsorship and, most notably, broadcast?

  • ON NYCFC’S TRANSFER STRATEGY

    FBL-TUR-SUPERLIG-TRABZONSPOR
    AFP

    Mo Salah was one of the global soccer stars linked with NYCFC this summer, before he ended up in Turkey. Could the club sign another star this summer?

    GOAL: Since you alluded to it, let’s talk transfers. Two names that have been linked with NYCFC are Mo Salah and Romelu Lukaku. Salah is now off the market, while Lukaku continues to be linked with MLS. Was there truth to either rumor?

    SIMS: Generally, we’re open to any player. We want to have a signature player or players in this new era for us. So we’re open to any of those names, the names you mentioned. We’ve [also] talked about Pulisic before.

    I think for us, generally the most important qualifier is if a player really wants to be in MLS, before even New York City FC…I think Messi has tremendously helped with the perception that this is a high-quality league. Before the World Cup started, everyone’s like - of course - Messi is destroying MLS because it’s only MLS. Then he goes and destroys the World Cup in the same way. Then everyone’s like, ‘oh wait a second, he’s doing the same thing to some of the best teams in the world.’

    If a player is coming in and they’re only looking at us in the same way they’d look at Saudi Arabia or places like that for the money, that’s not - at least from an NYCFC perspective - a player that we would be interested in going after…[For] notable players, there’s a very short list of markets that would be most of interest to them, and I would argue that New York would be on everybody’s list….

    We’re going to recruit players by making sure they’re in it for the right reasons.

    GOAL: Is this something you’re looking at for this season, or are you looking ahead to next season or when the stadium opens?

    SIMS: We’re definitely [trying]. There are 30 days left in this window, and we’re open [to making signings] this window. We're open to the winter window. We're open next summer. It just depends on when a player is available, wants to come and meshes with our current team.

    We love our current team. We have a team that's going to be able to compete for the championship when it's all said and done. Right now, we don't want to blow up a team by just getting players from outside and having to adapt around that. We want to find a player that's going to fit well within our current needs and play into our style of play.