Former LA Galaxy defender James Riley is moving from the soccer field to the board room.
The 11-year MLS veteran retired in May to accept a position with Major League Soccer as the league’s director of player relations. For a defender, who made 251 regular season appearances with seven teams, throughout his career, the progression is a natural one.
“I was a 12-year-old kid when the league started,” Riley told MLSsoccer.com. “I remember watching the first game on television and being ultra-excited and going to the Colorado Rapids inaugural home game and wishing to one day be on that field. So to kind of have that come full circle I think is a role that’s important and one that I take seriously.”
Hired in May, Riley is still learning his new role which will see him supervise rosters, salary budgets, contract issues, and aid in the league’s competition rules, along with other responsibilities.
Given the relative newness of Riley’s position, the specifics are still being ironed out, but the former defender and longtime MLS Union representative has grand designs of providing a player’s voice in league discussions while also aiding players on and off the field.
“The league are signing a lot of Homegrowns, and we need to make sure that we have things in place, programs in place that are going to help create and cultivate the players that we want from those signings,” Riley said. “An important side of that is life skills, basic life skills that either you learn in college or take 11 years to learn in the league. We want to kind of help expedite that process so that they can be the best pro that they can be. We want to be intentional about that, and I think that’s a huge step that the league’s taking.
“And I think it’s going to be important to have exit strategies for current players that have grinded through careers and given a lot to the league and kind of been silent heroes and the glue of the league,” he added. “I think that domestic players are sometimes kind of taken for granted, but for me it’s kind of the glue of the league. So we want to be able to have exit strategies for them, identify them for possibly executive track in a club, a coaching opportunity or maybe a broadcasting opportunity.”
