CARSON, Calif. (Thursday, April 2, 2015) – The LA Galaxy announced today that Galaxy President Chris Klein has been named to the 2015 Street and Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal’s Forty Under 40. Klein, 39, has served as the club’s president since January of 2013 and earns his second-consecutive Forty Under 40 award.
Under Klein’s direction, the Galaxy have grown its season ticket member base, driven innovation in Major League Soccer by being the first club to launch a second division team with the launch of Galaxy II in USL, led the charge in AEG and the Galaxy investing $15 million dollars into StubHub Center, generated over $9 million in sponsorship revenue, re-launched the LA Galaxy Foundation, which is projected to raise $600k in fundraising over the past two seasons and developed a best-in-class player development system that has seen 11 Galaxy Academy players signed to professional contracts across LA Galaxy and LA Galaxy II. Klein also helped assemble a roster that captured the 2014 MLS Cup title as the Galaxy became the first team in MLS to win five MLS Cup trophies.
Now in his eighth year with the club, Klein originally joined the Galaxy in June 2007 as a player, eventually retiring after the 2010 MLS season. He served as the Senior Director of the Galaxy Academy in 2011 before being promoted to the role of Vice President ahead of the start of the 2012 campaign.
An MLS Cup winner with Kansas City in 2000, Klein spent 12 years as a player in MLS, playing for Kansas City and Real Salt Lake before being traded to the Galaxy in June 2007. The St. Louis native played the final three-and-a-half years of his career with the Galaxy, appearing in more than 100 games in all competitions, scoring five goals and adding 15 assists while helping the club win the Western Conference Championship in 2009 and the Supporters’ Shield in 2010. Klein retired from MLS having played in 333 regular season games, the fifth most in MLS history at the time. A graduate of Indiana University, Klein played an instrumental role in the 2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations as a MLS player. He is a two-time MLS Comeback Player of the Year winner (2002, 2005) and was named LA Galaxy MVP in 2007.
The Forty Under 40 Awards program was initiated in 1999 to identify and honor the most promising young executives in sports business under the age of 40. A committee of SportsBusiness Daily/Global/Journal editors and writers select the 40 executives from among hundreds of nominations received each year. This year's Forty Under 40 banquet and awards show will be held on April 9 at L.A. Live.
