From MLS suspension to USL president: How Paul McDonough moved on from Inter Miami

At the start of 2021, Paul McDonough was riding high. After helping launch Inter Miami, he was set to return to Atlanta United, as its vice president of soccer operations. In Atlanta, McDonough was part of one of Major League Soccer’s most successful expansion launches. It was home.

That spring, it all came crashing down. An MLS investigation determined that McDonough and Inter Miami had violated the league’s salary budget and roster guidelines during the club’s inaugural season, including signing five designated players — two more than the league allows.

As Miami’s chief operating officer and sporting director at the time, McDonough was suspended from holding a job in MLS through the 2022 season and resigned from his post with Atlanta. Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas was fined $250,000 and the club was hit with a $2 million fine, as well as additional roster-focused penalties. MLS reinstated McDonough in March of last year, but he hasn’t spoken publicly about his role in those sanctions until now.

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MLS fines Inter Miami, owner Jorge Mas; suspends Paul McDonough through 2022

“There were a lot of unknowns, a lot of questions,” McDonough told The Athletic last week from a home he is renting in Marietta, Ga. “I had to acknowledge the part I played. It was really difficult to think about what’s next. We didn’t know what to do. We sold the house and relocated here and tried to cope with the situation, the embarrassment of it.”

Today, at the end of 2023, McDonough is back in soccer, but in a position that is arguably even more impactful than any he held in MLS: president of the United Soccer League, a collection of lower-division U.S. leagues including the second-division USL Championship. That league ended its season in thrilling fashion in Sunday’s championship match, as Phoenix Rising captured its first title on penalties over Charleston Battery.

“What I love about this league is that we don’t get to dictate what clubs do,” McDonough said. “There are international roster rules, but our clubs and their ambition, there’s no ceiling.”

In the immediate aftermath of his suspension, McDonough wondered what his career could look like going forward — his adult life has been consumed entirely by working in soccer, finding his greatest success and notoriety in helping MLS expansion teams get up to speed early.

The first of these projects was Orlando City in 2015, where he signed Brazilian superstar Kaká as Orlando’s first designated player. Then Atlanta United in 2017, where he helped assemble a roster that won an MLS Cup in 2018, led by players like Miguel Almirón and Josef Martínez. After that came Inter Miami. Throughout, McDonough displayed a deft ability to maneuver MLS’ complicated roster rules and a penchant for negotiating contracts with foreign clubs.

When the suspension was announced, all of that was suddenly at risk…along with so much more.

“The impact (of the suspension) was much bigger than anyone ever could have realized,” McDonough said. “(My family) came through it stronger because of it but, for me, it still lingers.”

McDonough was suspended from holding a job in MLS through the 2022 season for his part in Miami’s rule violations. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

McDonough and his wife Tammy have two sons, one in college and the other in high school. They advised both to try and stay off social media following his suspension and discussed how their lives would change as a result. McDonough himself chose to stay out of the public eye and avoided talking about what happened at Inter Miami because “it wouldn’t do any good.”

“You stay quiet,” McDonough said. “You figure out who your friends are, who aren’t. It was important, especially with the boys that, yeah, I did something wrong. There’s a punishment. I’ll take it and I’ll move on.”

McDonough reflected on what happened. He mentioned current Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora’s admission of his role in the sign-stealing scandal that tarnished his time with the Houston Astros.

“What he went through, how he reflected. I could relate to that a bit,” McDonough said. “The people that you felt as though you were very good to, everyone runs from you. That was one of the things Cora recognized. But you know what, I came out of it knowing who my closest friends and allies are. That’s sometimes better.”

McDonough doesn’t feel scapegoated by MLS, but it’s apparent that the subject remains a difficult one for him to address. Still, he described his role in the scandal succinctly: “I had full knowledge of what was going on and participated in conversations and setting things up.”

The league’s punishment of McDonough and Inter Miami was unprecedented, though even those who work in the league admit that cheating in MLS is nothing new. In The Athletic’s anonymous MLS team executive survey from 2022, a majority of those polled estimated that at least a quarter of the league’s clubs violate MLS roster rules regularly.

“You can’t get wrapped up in whether you were or weren’t (a scapegoat),” McDonough said. “You just accept your role in it and try to move on. That’s what I’ve tried to do.”

When USL CEO Alec Papadakis approached McDonough about succeeding Jake Edwards as USL president, McDonough was frank about everything that had happened at Inter Miami. When Papadakis offered him the job, McDonough didn’t hesitate.

“I never imagined that I would be a president of a league,” said McDonough. “I didn’t know where I was going to go with the game. And I think coming out of (the MLS suspension), it makes me better in my new role with the USL. I’m better for it. People may not agree with that, but it is what it is. I look at things a little bit differently now.”

With McDonough at the helm, the USL faces one big decision that could reshape how lower-division soccer operates in the United States: an upcoming vote on instituting promotion and relegation between the USL’s leagues. The Athletic reported in July that the USL’s owners would vote on the proposal in August, but it was since postponed.

McDonough said that promotion and relegation is still on the table, but that plenty of logistical work remains, including a potential restructure in order to allow the USL to do what no other U.S. professional league has ever done.

“I love the fact that it happens everywhere else in the world,” said McDonough. “But I understand that it’s a massive move in this country. So we’re at a stage now where we’re really just having a lot of conversations with owners. Some people love it. Some people hate it.”

Promotion and relegation isn’t a magic solution that will suddenly make the USL the most popular soccer league in the country, but it can be part of the equation. Attendance in the USL is rising every year, McDonough said. Generally speaking, the league is on an upward path.

“But is that good enough?” McDonough asked. “Promotion and relegation brings us relevance. People are really, really intrigued by it. I’m not a real proponent of trying to take a global game and Americanizing it. I think you have to respect the global game and the way it’s done in the rest of the world.”

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Yet still, the USL understands its place in America’s soccer ecosystem. MLS is the country’s first division. The league features 29 teams with a 30th, San Diego, set to begin play in 2025. MLS expansion fees are now more than $500 million. There are multiple 40,000-seat stadiums and the direction of the league is largely driven by a group of billionaire owners.

McDonough said it would be foolish to think that the USL was trying to compete directly with that sort of establishment. But by forging their own path, with smaller budgets and local teams in smaller soccer-specific stadiums, the USL can rival MLS in smaller ways that add up to something more.

“We can play a massive role in the development of soccer in this country,” McDonough said. “Soccer in this country is not going to grow based on 30 to 34 markets. It’s just not. We have to play a significant role. I think the NWSL has to play a significant role and this is what I said to U.S. Soccer. If soccer in this country is really going to excel, then we need to be a really active participant in it.”

MLS is on a quest to globalize its brand and reach new international audiences. The USL is primarily striving for more engagement from American soccer fans.

“But,” McDonough warns, “(Promotion and relegation) comes with risk. Relegation comes with a bit of risk.”

The USL is working with Twenty First Group, a sports intelligence firm, to understand those risks better. The firm’s recommendation is to split the USL into three tiers, adding one more professional level to the two pro tiers within the USL — the Championship and USL League One.

“Splitting the three tiers would give us more movement and more matches of consequence,” McDonough said. “More matches of consequence would lead to better turnstiles. Better turnstiles lead to better sponsorships and TV leads, which leads to more revenues. So we can do it. I don’t think other leagues can do it because we’re not a single entity structure.”

Last week, the USL announced a multi-year rights agreement with CBS Sports. The network will air 100 USL matches a year through 2027. Coverage will feature the USL Championship and USL League One. McDonough didn’t take credit for that deal, but he said timing is everything.

“We’re never going to be able to buy a star,” said McDonough. “What I tell our owners, it’s not stars, it’s stories. (CBS) came in with all the right ideas. “They want to help us grow. We want to help them grow. This was not going to be a TV deal based on money. Our games have to matter and it’s got to be exciting and we have to have good young players, but it’s a great opportunity for us as we move forward.”

The @USLChampionship is coming to @CBSSports and the Golazo Network! 🤩
CBS Sports and Golazo Network will air 100 USL matches annually through 2027. ⚽
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) November 7, 2023

Another area of growth for the USL is player transfers, with the league already becoming a viable pathway to European soccer. Over the last year, Jonathan Gomez, 20, and Joshua Wynder, 18, both moved from Louisville City in the USL Championship to Real Sociedad and Benfica, respectively. In September, the league’s most recent Golden Boot winner, Milan Iloski, 24, completed a move to Danish first division side Nordsjaelland from Orange County SC. Iloski was a Real Salt Lake homegrown player.

Additionally, five current USL players will represent their countries at the U-17 World Cup in Indonesia, which began play on Friday. Fidel Barajas of the Charleston Battery and Adrian Pelayo of North Carolina FC were selected by Mexico. Duran Ferree of San Diego Loyal, Bryce Jamison of Orange County SC and Birmingham Legion’s Matthew Corcoran were called up by the U.S. McDonough will push the league to continue to be part of the global transfer market, pointing to Orange County SC as one example of what can be done.

“We have to be in that space,” McDonough said. “There are so many kids in this country that I think we do have to be active participants. It’s not about the first sale. We don’t need the big number. We’ll sell a player and we’ll do add-ons and we’ll do percentages of sell-ons. So if that player goes into a market and does well and then gets sold for money, then the rewards are there for us.”

The challenge for the USL now will be to prove to young players that the league can consistently provide options to move abroad. In that sense, the USL would rival MLS Next Pro, which is MLS’ newly created professional pathway competition. It’s not the USL’s focus to poach players from MLS academies, McDonough said, but he believes that the sheer number of players in the U.S. and some MLS rules offer advantages that the USL can exploit.

“You can only sign so many players with the hopes of playing for the first team in MLS,” said McDonough. “This country is so big that there are players that always come out of the weeds or from non-traditional markets or not from MLS academies. But then I think there are people who are looking for freedom of movement and I think we have to lean into some of the things like homegrown territories that hurt MLS. I understand why they have them, but they can’t sign all the players in that region. It’s just impossible. And we provide something different.”

McDonough admitted that he took on too much at Inter Miami, which led to mistakes and poor judgment. He was involved in the initial roster build and coach search, which was coupled with McDonough’s daily meetings with city officials and the club’s ownership regarding the construction of Miami’s training facility.

He loved the work, though, and believes that he played a major part in helping Inter Miami begin play during MLS’ pandemic-interrupted season in 2020.

“I acknowledged the mistakes. I am very aware of the mistakes I made, not only just with the roster rules, but player signings and things like that, McDonough said. “If I don’t take on those roles…the club doesn’t launch.”

At USL, he has once again accepted a job that will require him to avoid getting stretched too thin. McDonough feels better prepared now and more supported at the organizational level. He said building on what Edwards accomplished was a good place to start, but that his and Edwards’ skill sets vary quite specifically.

Paul McDonough has been named USL President and Chief Soccer Officer.
Welcome, Paul!
— United Soccer League (@USL_HQ) May 8, 2023

“Jake was very business-centric and he loves soccer. I’m soccer-centric and I love the business side,” said McDonough. “I think Jake was very forward-facing. I’m not really a forward-facing guy. I’m probably just a little too straightforward.”

McDonough is now set on further evolving the USL brand beyond U.S. shores. His respect for the traditions and culture of the global game will likely define his tenure as league president. USL is at an inflection point in its young history and the phone is ringing at the USL headquarters.

McDonough said that teams from Germany’s Bundesliga, the Premier League in England and Spain’s La Liga are interested in more than just signing players from the USL.

“We’re having conversations about them getting involved in different aspects, whether that be taking over some of the technical aspects of a club or taking a club,” McDonough said. “As those things start to happen, (the USL) will become more relevant in other parts of the world.”

McDonough’s recent past cannot be erased. His future in soccer, however, and that of the USL, are poised to be just as notable.

“We had a good platform, but now it’s time for us to step up and do more.”

(Top photo: JJ Digos/United Soccer League)