New York City FC has found their replacement for David Lee.
Todd Dunivant is being named the club’s next chief soccer officer, moving from USL Championship side Sacramento Republic to the Big Apple MLS club and taking over the role starting in the new year, The Post confirmed
The Athletic was first to report the hire late Monday night.
Dunivant, 44, has held the position of general manager for the second-division club since 2018 and added president of the team to his résumé in 2020.
Todd Dunivant, seen during his playing days, is NYCFC’s new soccer boss. MLS via Getty ImagesDunivant, who had a lengthy career as a player in MLS, takes over an NYCFC squad coming off an impressive first year under head coach Pascal Jansen, which ended Saturday in a 5-1 loss to Inter Miami in the Eastern Conference finals.
The new man in charge of the sporting side still has some decisions to make, including working on a new deal for homegrown star Justin Haak and finding help to fill the void left by the injury to 2025 leading scorer Alonso Martínez.
New York City FC have been searching for a replacement for Lee after he left the club in October to take over as Sporting Kansas City’s chief soccer officer.
Chatter about who would take over for Lee had been minimal as the club conducted its search, with NYCFC CEO Brad Sims telling The Post in November that they had whittled it down to a list of finalists.
“I would expect whoever we hire to come in to want to dig in and look at things differently,” Sims said during the conversation. “And that’s part of the benefit of bringing someone new also is a fresh set of eyes, new kind of view on things and having new ideas and viewpoints.”
Dunivant moved into the front office side of soccer following a lengthy playing career in MLS, which spanned more than 300 matches with clubs such as the San Jose Earthquakes, LA Galaxy, Red Bulls and Toronto FC, and included winning five MLS Cups.
Todd Dunivant #2 of the Los Angeles Galaxy controls the ball during the MLS match against the New England Revolution at The Home Depot Center on March 20, 2011 in Carson, California. The Revolution and the Galaxy. Getty ImagesHe also was part of two Supporters’ Shield-winning squads and a team that won the U.S. Open Cup, while also being named to the MLS Best XI in 2011.
Sacramento Republic made the USL Championship playoffs in all but one of the seasons Dunivant was at the helm, and the club reached the U.S. Open Cup final in 2022.
The news of Dunivant’s hiring came just hours after NYCFC announced it exercised 2026 options for Nico Cavallo, Tayvon Gray, Thiago Martins, Max Murray, Kevin O’Toole, Tomás Romero and Strahinja Tanasijevic.
NYCFC also announced that Andrés Perea’s option was declined, but talks were ongoing about his future.
The club also noted it remains in discussions with Haak and 38-year-old vet Maxi Moralez over their futures.
