Full-Time

Partnership Marketing Manager

Deadline 7/22/27
Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer

1,001-5,000 employees

North American pro soccer league media

Compensation Overview

$80k - $88.5k/yr

New York, NY, USA

Hybrid

Four days in the office each week; remote work is available one day per week.

Bachelor's

Category
Growth & Marketing (1)
Required Skills
CRM
Word/Pages/Docs
Excel/Numbers/Sheets
Microsoft Outlook

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Requirements
  • A bachelor's degree is required.
  • At least 5 years of experience in partnership marketing and sponsorship activation is required.
  • Proven experience servicing multimillion-dollar partnerships is required.
  • Maintain a high level of commitment to quality work product and organizational ethics, integrity, and compliance.
  • Work effectively in a fast-paced team environment.
  • Communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
  • Demonstrate decision-making and problem-solving skills.
  • Maintain high attention to detail, multitask, and meet deadlines with minimal supervision.
  • Demonstrate proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
Responsibilities
  • Manage the day-to-day execution of activities within assigned partner accounts across Major League Soccer and other SUM properties, along with other departmental projects as needed.
  • Serve as the primary stakeholder for day-to-day client contact and account management.
  • Lead weekly calls by creating agendas and providing recap notes.
  • Facilitate workstreams with internal departments.
  • Provide strategic counsel to partners.
  • Identify and deliver solutions to partner issues.
  • Oversee asset delivery, tracking, and recapping, including player appearances and tickets.
  • Facilitate special requests.
  • Provide strategic oversight of contractual assets, including ticket pools, player appearances, pre-game field experiences, and on-site activations.
  • Support renewal efforts for current partner contracts by sharing insights based on partner conversations, history, and relationships.
  • Proactively generate ideas for new sponsorship opportunities to grow partner business.
  • Present information effectively to sponsors and internal stakeholders.
  • Manage partner program budgets responsibly on a day-to-day basis.
  • Lead the creative approval process for all partner assets.
  • Maintain partner information in the customer relationship management database, ensuring partner contacts, billing information, and assets are entered correctly and updated as needed.
  • Support the implementation of partner-specific media strategies in collaboration with the media team to deliver against brand objectives and key performance indicators.
  • Champion team development by communicating job expectations with direct reports and managing the performance-management process.
  • Plan, monitor, and review employee performance.
  • Coach and counsel employees.
  • Develop and implement department procedures and productivity standards.
  • Demonstrate and reinforce company policies and best practices.
  • Develop personal growth opportunities for employees.
  • Lead special projects as requested and serve as the Partnership Marketing department stakeholder on cross-departmental projects and initiatives as needed.
  • Perform additional responsibilities as assigned.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience managing a direct report.
  • Knowledge of the sport of soccer.
  • Ability to travel and work non-traditional hours, including evenings, weekends, and holidays.

Major League Soccer is the top professional soccer league in North America, delivering digital content, live scores, highlights, news, and tickets for matches to soccer fans. Its product works through MLS Digital Properties, which provides 24/7 online advertising opportunities, and through Soccer United Marketing (SUM) partnerships that run turnkey programs across content, video, mobile, and social media. This combination creates a distinctive media and marketing network tied to the league, enabling consistent fan engagement across multiple channels. The goal is to grow soccer’s fan base in North America and increase revenue from ads, sponsorships, and live-event experiences.

Company Size

1,001-5,000

Company Stage

Debt Financing

Total Funding

$25M

Headquarters

New York City, New York

Founded

1996

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Larry Berg starts January 1, 2027, bringing private-equity urgency and LAFC success.
  • 2026 World Cup boosted MLS ticket sales 58% during and after the tournament.
  • KKR-backed Hometown Soccer Holdings expands MLS NEXT Pro into new commercial markets.

What critics are saying

  • Players Association talks before January 31, 2028 threaten roster reform and work stoppage.
  • Apple TV rights reset after 2028-29 risks a revenue cliff against rival bidders.
  • A failed 2027 calendar switch would disrupt schedules, sponsors, and matchday revenue.

What makes Major League Soccer unique

  • 30 clubs across the U.S. and Canada, plus 26 soccer-specific stadiums, anchor MLS.
  • MLS NEXT and MLS NEXT Pro control the pipeline from academy to first team.
  • Apple TV distribution and the 2027 calendar switch align MLS with global soccer norms.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Wellness Program

Unlimited Paid Time Off

Hybrid Work Options

Professional Development Budget

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

15%

1 year growth

15%

2 year growth

15%
PR Newswire
Aug 6th, 2026
TeamSnap and Major League Soccer expand partnership with exclusive MLS NEXT training content for youth coaches

TeamSnap and Major League Soccer have expanded their partnership to deliver exclusive training content for youth soccer coaches and players. The collaboration introduces a new curriculum featuring drills and practice plans from MLS NEXT, the elite youth development platform for players aged 13-19. The content is available exclusively on TeamSnap's platforms, including MOJO and TeamSnap ONE. It builds on earlier releases of individual training videos from MLS GO for recreational players aged 4-14. The curriculum was produced at San Diego Soccer Academy and features competitive players from Southern California alongside MLS-affiliated coaches. TeamSnap first partnered with MLS in 2023 following its acquisition of MOJO Sports. TeamSnap serves over 30 million users across more than 100 sports and partners with major leagues including MLB, Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA, NFL FLAG, and Premier Lacrosse League.

Georgia Public Broadcasting
Aug 5th, 2026
MLS named LAFC co-owner Larry Berg as its next commissioner. Here's what to know.

MLS named LAFC co-owner Larry Berg as its next commissioner. Here's what to know. August 5, 2026 12:00 AM * Becky Sullivan Primary content. Los Angeles FC co-owner Larry Berg has been tapped to be the next commissioner of Major League Soccer. / AP Major League Soccer owners voted this week to name Los Angeles F.C. co-owner Larry Berg as their next commissioner - the man they hope will lead the league into the future and nearer to long-held ambitions of prominence among American sports fans and global soccer leagues. Berg will officially become the first new MLS commissioner in 27 years on Jan. 1, 2027, after a transition period with outgoing head Don Garber. In his decades on the job, Garber oversaw the league's glow-up from a cash-poor 10-team afterthought to the full-sized, mature league it is today, complete with 23 soccer-specific stadiums and youth academies for every team. "I've experienced this sport as a player, a fan and owner, and now with tremendous humility as commissioner," Berg said at an introductory press conference Tuesday. "Every one of those experiences has reinforced the same belief: The future of Major League Soccer has never been brighter." The transition comes at a pivotal moment for MLS, which is hoping for a boost to attendance and ratings in the wake of this summer's FIFA World Cup in North America. Next year, the league will shift its long-time season calendar to a summer-to-spring schedule to align with Europe's professional leagues. Ahead lie other challenges that have game-changing potential for the league, including looming labor negotiations and the expiration of the current media rights deal with Apple TV in 2029. Around 125 candidates were considered for the job before owners voted among finalists this week to select Berg. His professional background is in private equity, and LAFC, the team he's been with since its founding in 2014, which is widely regarded as one of the most capably run franchises in MLS. Read on for more: Who is Larry Berg? Berg is known best in the soccer world for his co-ownership of Los Angeles FC, which debuted in 2018 and has quickly become one of the league's most successful franchises. Under Berg's co-ownership, the team has won an MLS Cup and a U.S. Open Cup and has twice finished as the league's best regular-season team. Manu Duah (r) of San Diego FC controls the ball against Joaquin Pereyra of Minnesota United FC on August 01, 2026 in St. Paul, Minnesota. / Getty Images Berg has also served as co-chair of the league's Sporting and Competition Committee, the body that oversees rule changes, such as the forthcoming calendar switch. "That was way before he had the ambition to be commissioner, and he brought to that role an entirely modern and forward-thinking perspective as to where the product could be on the field," Garber said Tuesday. What is his background? Berg, who is 60, grew up playing soccer. On Tuesday, he recalled joining a youth league as an 8-year-old in his hometown of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in 1974. (Back then, there were only two teams in the league, so they played each other every weekend, he joked.) He was an accomplished high school player who competed in a state championship against future Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes. Berg was an early megafan of Major League Soccer who attended the Los Angeles Galaxy's inaugural home game in 1996. Berg studied economics and business at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, and then at Harvard University. Ultimately, he pursued a career in private equity, becoming a senior partner at the firm Apollo Global Management, one of the world's largest private equity firms. Berg says he will divest his ownership stake in LAFC in order to take the job as commissioner. Asked Tuesday about how his background in private equity would inform his approach to the job, Berg said he believed it would be an advantage. "It's about a sense of urgency. It's about rolling up the sleeves, being in the trenches, asking good questions, aligning people toward a common goal," he said. General view inside the stadium prior to the MLS match between Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Los Angeles Football Club at BC Place on August 01, 2026 in Vancouver, British Columbia. / Getty Images What is Berg's vision for MLS? In 2020, Berg boldly predicted that soccer and MLS would surpass baseball and hockey to become the No. 3 sport in the U.S. behind football and basketball. On Tuesday, he said he still believed in that vision. (A recent Gallup poll found that professional soccer ranked in the middle of the pack when respondents were asked whether they were a fan of a wide variety of sports, including the major American professional and college sports, along with Olympic sports like figure skating. In terms of pro sports, soccer finished behind football, basketball and baseball but ahead of ice hockey, tennis and golf.) "As we look ahead five to ten years from now, I hope people won't simply say that Major League Soccer got bigger. I hope they'll say it got better - better competition, better player development, stronger clubs, deeper connections with supporters, greater success internationally, and a league that inspired more young people across North America to fall in love with this game," Berg said Tuesday. To accomplish all that, he said, the league must start by improving the quality of the on-field game. "I would say that's my No. 1 job," he said. "We will have more transfer revenues, and we'll have more media money, and that'll all lead to better product on the field. And that will become a flywheel, because it leads to more transfers and more revenue money and more media money." What are the big challenges ahead? There's been a lot of chatter in the MLS world about the league's current roster rules and spending restrictions, with owners eager to simplify regulations and allow for more spending. Those changes will likely be subject to a negotiation with the MLS players' union, whose current contract is in place until Jan. 31, 2028. The other big item is the league's media rights deal. Right now, MLS earns about $250 million per year from Apple TV, the streaming provider that carries every MLS game (with some games simulcast on Fox and its suite of channels). League leadership believes that number could be significantly higher in the future. "It's about finding media partners that want to co-create the future with us. It's about co-creating. It's about what's interesting to them, what's interesting to us," Berg said Tuesday. He raised the possibility of changing "certain things to [a media partner's] benefit," citing the controversial World Cup "hydration breaks" that allowed broadcasters to air valuable commercials during games. What does he think about promotion and relegation? This one's for the soccerheads. Some vocal fans have called for implementing a Europe-style promotion-relegation system in U.S. soccer. Supporters of the idea believe it would incentivize lower-performing teams to remain competitive to avoid relegation to a lower division. Investors and team owners generally oppose the idea, because relegation can be a financial disaster for teams, and they want to protect their multimillion-dollar investments. On Tuesday, Berg was directly asked about the idea. "I don't think it's a great way to build the league. I don't think it's a way to get stadiums built and to get training facilities built and to have owners invest in rosters and all the other things you need to do," he said. "I just don't see it happening any time soon." Bottom content. Support quality journalism. GPB is committed to bringing you comprehensive news coverage from Georgia, across the country and around the world. Your support makes this possible. Please consider making a gift today to support this vital public service.

Channel NewsAsia
Aug 3rd, 2026
MLS appoints LAFC co-owner Berg as next commissioner.

MLS appoints LAFC co-owner Berg as next commissioner. 04 Aug 2026 05:13AM (Updated: 04 Aug 2026 06:10AM) Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. LOS ANGELES, Aug 3: Major League Soccer named Los Angeles FC co-managing owner Larry Berg as its next commissioner on Monday, tapping the private equity executive to succeed longtime leader Don Garber on January 1, 2027. Garber, who has led MLS since 1999, will remain commissioner through the end of 2026 before becoming chairman, the league said. Berg was selected by the MLS Board of Governors following a succession process led by a committee of club owners. The 30-team league said he would sell his ownership interest in LAFC under its established transition process in order to avoid conflicts of interest. "I'm honored to lead Major League Soccer into its next era," Berg said in a statement. "I believe our greatest opportunities are still ahead." Berg, a founding co-managing owner of LAFC, also serves as co-chair of MLS's Sporting and Competition Committee. He helped launch the Los Angeles club in 2018 and oversaw a period in which they won the MLS Cup in 2022 and Supporters' Shield titles in 2019 and 2022. The appointment puts Berg in charge as MLS prepares for a pivotal stretch following the World Cup in North America. The league plans to introduce a new competition calendar in 2027 to align with top global leagues and will also face discussions over its player squad rules, future media rights and a new collective bargaining agreement. "Larry Berg is the right leader for Major League Soccer's next chapter," Jimmy Haslam, co-chair of the MLS succession committee, said in a statement. Berg has experience outside MLS, having held ownership interests in Italian Serie A side AS Roma and Welsh club Swansea City. He spent more than three decades in private equity, serving as a senior partner at Apollo Global Management until retiring from the firm in 2022. He later joined investment firm 26North as a senior partner. Garber will leave the commissioner's role after 27 years in charge, a period during which MLS expanded from 10 clubs to 30 and increased its footprint across the United States and Canada. Twenty-six soccer-specific stadiums were built during his tenure. Garber said Berg's work with LAFC and MLS had demonstrated the leadership qualities required for the role. "His integrity, judgement, collaborative leadership, and unwavering commitment to building LAFC and the league have made him an invaluable partner," Garber said. Berg is due to be formally introduced at MLS headquarters in Manhattan on Tuesday.

CNBC
Aug 3rd, 2026
Larry Berg named next MLS commissioner, will oversee new player agreement and media rights deal

Larry Berg has been named the next commissioner of Major League Soccer, taking over from Don Garber next year. Garber, who has held the position since 1999, will remain in an emeritus role through 2027. Berg currently co-owns MLS' Los Angeles Football Club and previously served as a senior partner at Apollo Global Management. He will be required to sell his ownership stake in the club upon assuming the commissioner role. Among Berg's immediate challenges will be negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with players, which expires in January 2028. He will also oversee the league's next media rights negotiations after the current deal ends following the 2028-2029 season.

PanAfrica Football
Jul 30th, 2026
Olwethu Makhanya leaves MLS to join Rangers FC.

Olwethu Makhanya leaves MLS to join Rangers FC. Following weeks of speculation, South Africa national team defender Olwethu Makhanya has departed Major League Soccer club Philadelphia Union for Rangers FC, the Scottish club announced on Thursday. Makhanya joins for a reported transfer fee of €3.6 million and has signed a contract that will run until June 2030. Rangers have an option to extend the contract by a year. The 22-year-old spent three-and-a-half seasons with Philadelphia, where he took the next step in his development after previously representing Stellenbosch FC in South Africa. Makhanya made 53 appearances in all competitions with the Union's senior team after spending the 2023 and 2024 seasons with the club's reserve team, Philadelphia Union II. But poor form for both Makhanya and the Union led the central defender to pursue a move. After being with the South Africa national team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where he did not make an appearance, Makhanya refused to return to Union training while claiming that the club had agreed to sell him. Following negotiation, it appears that the Union got the transfer offer they desired while Makhanya can now pursue an adventure in European club football. Rangers will begin their 2026-27 Scottish Premiership campaign on Friday at Dundee United. They are also participating in qualifying for the UEFA Europa League. Makhanya showed plenty of promise with the Union during his breakout 2025 season before his form slowed down during the ongoing campaign. He will hope to ignite his club career in Scotland while building upon the one appearance he has with South Africa. South Africa