How the London lawer who played for Oxford University at Wembley became an MLS pioneer.
By Mike Woitalla Executive Editor, Soccer America Magazine
By his mid-teens, Ivan Gazidis had comprehended that his chances of becoming a professional soccer player were slim.
''That's when I gave up my defensive responsibilities and started to play forward,'' he says.
And in the attack is where the 41-year-old still lines up with Westport FC, winner of the Connecticut Over-30 State Cup. Gazidis also coaches his 8- and 6-year-old sons' teams, but he's known in the soccer world as MLS's deputy commissioner.
Besides Chief Operating Officer Mark Abbott, Gazidis is the league's longest serving employee. He arrived in 1994 to help create the business plan that would entice the investors who made MLS's 1996 launch possible and to assist Sunil Gulati in signing some 200 players for its original 10 teams.
''He had a good handle on the international soccer scene, more so than virtually anyone else we had at the league,'' says Gulati, now president of U.S. Soccer. ''His legal training was a big plus.''
Soccer became a part of Gazidis' life when he moved from his native South Africa to Britain at age 4. His father, Costa, had been active in the anti-Apartheid movement and was jailed with Nelson Mandela in 1964 for two years. Once released – after two escape attempts and six months in solitary confinement – Costa Gazidis was exiled.
With his new friends in Britain, Ivan Gazidis played soccer on concrete using a tennis ball, which would ruin his street shoes and frustrate his mother until she finally refused to buy him replacements.
''There's a famous picture in my family of me standing with the mayor of Portsmouth,'' he says. ''It appeared on the front page of the local newspaper, and you can see my socks through my shoes. She was horrified.''
When Gazidis' family moved to Manchester, he became a Manchester City season-ticket holder. He played on England regional teams with boys who would later sign with pro teams, but he took an academic route, entering Oxford University at age 17. Twice he played at Wembley in games against Cambridge.
After getting a law degree, he worked as a corporate lawyer in London. In 1992, the firm sent him to the USA to develop a relationship with the Los Angeles law firm of Latham & Watkins, where Alan Rothenberg, MLS's founder, was a partner.
Six months after returning to London, he attended a business meeting with Latham & Watkins that included a round of golf with Abbott, a Latham & Watkins associate who had already been recruited for the MLS venture. By the time they hit the final hole, Gazidis had signed on.
''We didn't have the luxury of the attracting the kind of owners you have in the rest of the world,'' Gazidis says, ''people who want to invest in their childhood team, for instance.''… What we had to do was come up with a sound business plan that would enable people to see business reasons to invest.''
The investors were locked in only five months before opening day.
''We had to get an entire league off the ground,'' Gazidis says. ''That involved a huge amount of things from stadium leases, sponsorship contracts, television deals, etc.
''We needed to sign players from all over in the world. We were taking players out of indoor leagues, out of overseas leagues, out of other leagues here in the United States. We had no idea how all of these players were actually going to be able to compete on the same field. We were trying to make those assessments very quickly. Some of our teams in the early days didn't even have general mangers and coaches yet. Sunil and I were trying to sign players who we hoped and believed teams would be interested in.''
They signed international stars like Jorge Campos, Marco Etcheverry, Mauricio Cienfuegos and Carlos Valderrama, and Americans who had been playing abroad, like Tab Ramos, Eric Wynalda, Alexi Lalas and John Harkes.
Now, Gazidis manages the league's day-to-day operations, including stadium, security, disciplinary and competition issues. He continues to oversee all international and domestic player contracts for the league, along with Todd Durbin.
''He's got a great sense of judgment,'' says Gulati. ''He's smart, educated and knows the game, and he's got a good sense of fairness.''
(This article priginally appeared in the April 2006 issue of Soccer America Magazine.)