MLS Commish Backs Dynamo's Canetti for Team Prez

Houston - Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber gave a huge endorsement to Houston Dynamo chief operating officer Chris Canetti to become the next president of the franchise.

"I've been a big supporter of Chris Canetti," Garber said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports. "I think he's done a terrific job managing the day-to-day operations of the club.

"At the end of the day the ownership will look at how Chris is performing the task and what their expectations are for what he will do in the future, but I've always been a big fan and I certainly hope he will get the nod."

The Dynamo have been in the market for a president since Oliver Luck resigned in June to become athletics director at West Virginia.

Canetti, who was named MLS Executive of the Year in 2008, has been in charge of the Dynamo's business operations since 2006.

"Chris, though he was probably number two on the (Dynamo's) chart, Chris is really managing the club," Garber said. "He's the guy that was a member of our chief business officers' group. This is a league-wide organization of the guys that are running the commercial activities.

"He came into our offices with Oliver a couple of months ago and laid out their business plan which was one of the best business plans in Major League Soccer. This is a guy that I hope stays in soccer for many, many years and frankly I hope he gets the nod to run the club."

SportsBusiness Journal named Canetti to the publication's prestigious Forty Under 40 list in 2010.

Garber nominated Canetti for that honor.

"I think he's one of the great young sports executives in our industry," Garber said. "That's a great honor. There are only 40 people in the entire country that are under 40 years old that get that honor.

"It's great to have a soccer person there. We get to sort of nominate one person. It's been awhile since we've had a Fory Under 40 person from MLS. Our league president was one one year, Kathy Carter, who runs our enterprise unit and now we've got Chris Canetti running the Houston Dyanmo."

Garber is in Houston for Wednesday's game between the 2010 MLS All-Stars and Manchester United.