Commissioner Don Garber joined us on Tuesday, July 17 to discuss the state of Major League Soccer in advance of the Sierra Mist MLS All-Star game on Thursday versus Celtic FC at Dick's Sporting Goods Park at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Read the transcript below.

MLSnet.com
Don Garber is here! Send in your questions.

Tim from Castle Rock, Colo.
I hear a great deal of anti-soccer bashing on national and local sports talk shows. I think this greatly hurts MLS. What is MLS doing to address this?

Don Garber
All of us soccer fans have been dealing with non-believers with quite some time but without doubt the level of ignorance of the sport the vitriol against it has reduced significantly over the last number of years. Our approach has always been to convince those people who love soccer to love MLS and let those who don't believe in the sport wallow in their own misfortune.

Jerry from Dallas
I've noticed the progression of MLS team names to be more internationally acceptable and I applaude the changes (FC Dallas, Toronto FC). Are any other teams following in that direction and is this a league focus toward becoming more integrated with the soccer world at large?

Don Garber
I have to answer that question in two parts. Part 1 - without doubt our teams, and the league, have been branding themselves more closely aligned with the international standard than within the past. You may, or may not know, that most of the team names, logos and brands in 1996 were created by Nike who had yet to get deeply engaged in soccer. To answer part two of your questions, Major League Soccer without doubt is becoming more focused on connecting with the international soccer community. SuperLiga, our involvement in Copa Sudamericana, international friendlies, MLS owner investment in soccer overseas are just a few examples of this connection and it's my opinion that our future requires us to continue this effort and perhaps even get more focused on even deeper connections.

Jason from New York
With the rurmored sale of the Fire by AEG, how important is it that every owner get down to one club each?

Don Garber
Let me start by saying that without Phil Anschutz and Lamar Hunt purchasing and ultimately operating multiple teams, Major League Soccer would not exist today. That being said, both ownership teams are committed, at the appropriate time, to ultimately own one team.

Kenneth from US Armed Forces
Do you think it was fair on the rest of the MLS teams to fix the schedule for the LA Galaxy in order to maximize the number of games David Beckham will play this season? LA has played 12 games so far while no one else has played less than 15.

Don Garber
Let me start by thanking you for your service to our country. Ultimately the impact that David Beckham will have on this league will be significant and Phil Anschutz and AEG CEO Time Lieweke are truly to be thanked for their efforts to bring David to MLS. We worked hard to ensure that we can manage the schedule, ensure that the Galaxy is not competitively disadvantaged and yet make every attempt to have David visit every team market by the end of the year. As you know, having him arrive after the summer transfer window complicates the situation significantly (as opposed to Juan Pablo Angel and Claudio Reyna arriving at the start of the year). However, I'm sure in the end it will work out for all involved.

Everyone from Everywhere
When will MLS be expanding to Pacific Northwest/Florida/New York/Philadelphia/Canada?

Don Garber
If I answer that here, we certainly won't have much to talk about during the State of the League address tomorrow. I'm well aware that much of the internet traffic and fan buzz recently concerns expansion and all of you know I, and MLS president Mark Abbot, spend a great deal of our time traveling from city to city meeting with potential owners, officials and sports authorities and all others to manage the expansion of the league. I'm very confident that we will be able to announce a 16-team league by the end of the year. It's still a moving target as to what cities will flow in when.

Brendan in Oakland
What is the status of the Earthquakes?

Don Garber
As all of you have been reading recently, Lew Wolff and his partner John Fisher, petitioned the league requesting the opportunity to exercise their option prior to 2010. There are a number of issues involved with that request and we continue to work with Lew and John to resolve them. Most importantly Wolff and Fisher are very excited about relaunching the Earthquakes, are totally committed the Bay Area and I believe will be fantastic owners in Major League Soccer.

Jason from Philadelphia
Is there any news on a possible new MLS franchise in Philadelphia?

Don Garber
No news yet but continuing to make progress but I'm hopeful, and even a bit bullish, about MLS's opportunities in Philly. We've been lobbying in the State House for public support of a facility and believe we have secured real interest from what we believe will be a terrific ownership group.

Jason from New Haven, Conn.
Can you give us the status on some other markets?

Don Garber
There's more interest in MLS expansion than at any other time in the history of the sport in the country. Without prioritizing any one market, here is a rundown of the cities: Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, San Jose, Sacramento, San Diego, San Antonio, St. Louis, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Rochester, New York City, Atlanta, Miami and Las Vegas.

Becks fan in California
Did you get to hug Posh?

Don Garber
No (laughs), wouldn't think of it. She certainly looked nice in her fuschia dress.

Tim from Westport, Conn.
Congratulations on the league's many successes! However, when will the salary cap enable teams to pay young players more and get them on a more equal scale with older players?

Don Garber
There's obviously been a lot of talk about development players' salaries as of late and it's inconceivable to think in any sport that young, entry level players would ever be on par with more senior, accomplished players. It wouldn't work in any business, it certainly doesn't work in pro sports. MLS is providing enormous opportunities for young players to test their worth and determine if they have what it takes to be a successful professional athlete. It is not intended that these players would compete at development salaries for very long. If they're good enough, as in Chris Rolfe's case as an example, their contract is renegotiated and they earn more money. I can provide a dozen examples of players like Chris who have started their career as a development player and are now full, senior roster players, national team competitors and have great earning potential in the future. This scenario is in all major leagues though clearly our players don't earn salaries that NBA or NFL players do but the disparity between development roster players and senior roster stars is similar.

John from Minneapolis, Minn.
Will MLS ever take a summer break so players can represent there national teams at prominent international tournaments and clubs who have these elite players will not get punished for not having their services while they're away?

Don Garber
This is an age-old issue for Major League Soccer and unfortunately will continue to be one until we have more teams in more of our own stadiums and a more established fan base to be able to start our regular season earlier and play through a good portion of the late fall and early winter in order to take a summer break. We clearly are not capable of doing that today and may not be for some time but I do believe that a change in our schedule is inevitable.

David from Kansas City
Please dicuss the league's train of thought with the signing of Beckham contrasted by the possible signings of multiple players at lower salaries who could have a greater impact across the board for equal money spent.

Don Garber
We have learned over the last couple of years that this country has a very keen interest in international teams, players and coaches. This is evidenced by increasing television ratings for the World Cup, Copa America, Gold Cup, sellout attendances at international friendlies and the overall popularity of the world's most popular international players (Beckham, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Ronaldo, etc.). This strong interest, at this time, is the greater than the interest in Major League Soccer so our approach with the designated player rule is to provide our teams the opportunity to find some of these star players and capture a larger piece of this market that loves the game but not yet in love with MLS. I don't think anyone would argue that the attention the league has received over the last week with the Beckham signing has been beneficial for everyone involved in the sport including those players that earn significantly less than David does. I try to remind everyone that our approach is a long-term plan and I believe many of the decisions we're making today will provide long-term benefits for everyone involved with the sport.

Matt from Chapel Hill, N.C.
What are your expectations of SuperLiga this year? Will it ever go to a Home and Away format? Will it expand? Will it be on TV in English?

Don Garber
We're launching SuperLiga in a reduced format this year and still have some work to do to determine the future structure of the tournament. I certainly hope we can acheive a home and away competition with expanded teams but this year have to determine the tournament's success before we move forward.

Jon from Fort Wayne, Indiana
Do you worry about the articles being written which say "David Beckham is the last hope for MLS"? The league is growing slowly, but still growing. Does it set up the league to fail if he doesn't score eight goals a game?

Don Garber
I have reminded reporters in every interview I have done that David Beckham's signing is one part of a very comprehensive plan to build Major League Soccer. A plan, I might add, that's been working well of late. In the last number of years, we've added three new teams, seven new owners, several new stadiums, signed more long-term television contracts and most importantly improved the quality of play. Those who know the game understand that Beckham is not going to score ten goals a game and those who don't know the game probably aren't going to support us anyway.

Jade from Seattle
What is the status of the proposed Pan Pacific competition with the J-League, A-League, K-League, etc? When might we hear news about it?

Don Garber
We're continuing to work with leagues in all those countries to put a Pan-Pacific tournament together but have yet to finalize the competition.

James from Chicago
When will you grow the goattee back?

Don Garber
I had that goattee for nine years and botched it up shaving one day and my wife and daughter said it was time to lose it. I miss it, though, it could be coming back soon.

Elieazer from Houston
With only 13 teams in the league, why not allow just 6 teams into the playoffs?

Don Garber
Ultimately the success and popularity of pro sports in this country have been driven by a strong postseason. As a number of you have reminded me, you'd prefer promotion and relegation instead of a playoff format. However, without promotion and relegation, we need to try to make our playoffs as compelling as possible but at the same time not eliminate teams too early in the season. As a young league, we look at our structure all the time and are not opposed to either changing or evolving the system to ensure that we acheive all of our goals.

Tim from Castle Rock, Colo.
MLS does not seem to support the US Open Cup to the same extent as the MLS regular season games. Teams do not advertise the games and play inferior squads. This is our national Cup Tournament. Will MLS start properly supporting the US Open Cup?

Don Garber
I do believe we support it as best we can in light of a crowded schedule and a small number of teams we currently have in the league. As the league grows, and the schedule gets more balanced, we should be able to manager our participation with greater support. That being said, this year we have eight teams participating and I believe all of them will compete with the ultimate goal of winning the Lamar Hunt Trophy.

Mike from L.A.
The league seems to be looking out for former players who were at some point in their career US national team players. What about the players who have had longevity/won championships in this league but are not US national team players? Ezra, Waibel,etc

Don Garber
Contrary to some people's opinion, all player personnel decisions are made by the local teams. It's decided by coaches, technical directors and general managers who put teams together who they think will succeed on the field within the confines of the rules set forth by the league.

Jared from Colorado Springs, Colo.
Why not replace the "Soccer Jam" with a skills competition like the NHL does? How do we make All-Star more of an event for fans to interact with players and the sport of soccer?

Don Garber
Jared, you may or may not know we had a skills competition for many years and found that fans were more interested in interacting outside the stadium than they were coming to the facility for the event. Having managed the events group at the NFL for many years which created the NFL quarterback challenge, the NFL's fastest man, the NFL Pro-Bowl skills challenge and other event-oriented televiions programming, I'm a big believe in this type of event. It's a good suggestion and we probably should take a look at bringing it back.

MLSnet.com
We've got time for one more until the commissioner needs to check in for his flight to Denver.