October 15 – Major League Soccer (MLS) Commissioner Don Garber says the league is not investigating New York City FC after Manchester City, their sister club, was found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules.
An independent commission ruled last month that City made “sham payments” and inflated revenue and reduced costs by more than £830 million ($1.1 billion), mostly between 2009 and 2018. City deny the charges and have appealed.
NYCFC are part of City Football Group, which owns 12 clubs and is majority owned by a vehicle belonging to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s vice-president and deputy prime minister. Khaldoon Al Mubarak chairs both City and CFG, and Ferran Soriano is chief executive of both.
The links go further. NYCFC’s chief financial officer, Andrew Widdowson, was head of finance and finance director at Manchester City from 2005 to 2018 before moving to New York to work on stadium financing. Both clubs are sponsored by Etihad Airways, which also holds naming rights to Etihad Park, NYCFC’s new stadium in Queens opening in summer 2027. There have been no allegations of wrongdoing against NYCFC, which won MLS Cup in 2021.
Speaking at Front Office Sports’ Tuned In summit, Garber said: “We’re fortunate we have owners in our league that own multiple teams throughout every league. We have Stan Kroenke owning Arsenal (and Colorado Rapids), and we have owners that own teams in Spain, in Italy, throughout the rest of the world.
“MLS is looking at how owners act in accordance with our rules here in Major League Soccer. I will say that what NYCFC has done through their own ownership, the City Football Group and investing in our league, building a great team in NYCFC, building an MLS Next Pro stadium in New Jersey, and obviously their stadium that will open up in Queens is something we’re thankful for and appreciative of.
“But we’re not in the business of looking at what our team owners do in other leagues. The concept of multiple team ownership is something that we all live through, manage through, and we have our own governance as it relates to what their behaviour is.”
Contact the writer of this story, Nick Webster, at nick.webster@insideworldfootball.com