Roll it up, roll it up, and welcome to the Lionel Messi show, the hottest ticket in America right now. A blip or a final changing of the guard in American sports?
America has been caught up in Lionel Messi madness since joining Inter Miami from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer. This has happened before in football in this country. But never like this.
The timing couldn’t be better, with the Copa America taking place there next year, with the final taking place on July 14 at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. The Club World Cup will be held in the United States in 2025, and the World Cup, the largest to date, will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026.
When it comes to a well-oiled machine that wants to promote and grow a brand, no one does it better than America. With all of this in mind, and the fact that the country is also likely to host the next Women’s World Cup in 2027, it’s safe to say that if soccer – sorry, soccer – doesn’t take off in the U.S. after this, it’s hard to imagine when will happen.
Will the arrival of Messi, regarded by many as the greatest player in football history, finally leave an indelible mark on America’s sports-mad psyche and establish himself in team sports such as American football, basketball or baseball? ? Or will this be another false dawn?
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What changes has Messi’s arrival brought to Inter Miami and Major League Soccer?
If there’s one thing American sports fans love more than the teams they support, it’s their passion for the superstars who play for them. Think Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky and you get the idea. Now add the name Lionel Messi.
The New York Red Bulls are offering a special holiday ticket promotion that includes next season’s home opener and derby game against rival New York City FC. But there’s a problem. If they draw with Inter Miami in their first game, it will not count as part of the deal. Written in small print next to the offer was the following: “If RBNY plays Inter Miami in the home opener, each home opener ticket will be replaced with a ticket to RBNY’s second home game.”
The name “Lionel Messi” doesn’t appear, but there’s really no need for it. Of course, no team is going to include Inter Miami tickets in their cheap seat deals for the new season.
No one at club or league level was prepared for the impact Messi’s signing would have on them.
Season ticket packages for next season will cost twice as much as they did in 2023, making Inter Miami one of the most expensive tickets in the world, and that’s for a league not typically considered one of the top leagues in the world.
The club’s Instagram account has grown from 1 million followers to 15 million.
If you want to catch the little magician when Inter Miami plays on the road, be prepared to dig deep.
For example, if you want to watch “Columbus Crew” this year, you can do so for just $40. Next season, they will charge a minimum of $382 and a maximum of $680 for seats in the “nosebleed” section when they visit Inter Miami.
If you happened to be visiting Mickey Mouse in Orlando and wanted to catch a game, last season you could watch the locals play for about $97. If you happen to be in town when Leo visits Orlando City next season, be prepared to spend more than $1,500 on the secondary market for a seat.
Image Source, Getty Images
Major League Soccer ticket prices soar as fans flock to watch Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi
The atmosphere of the game was almost surreal. No one was really watching the game except for Messi’s involvement.
If he was 50 meters away from the ball, everyone would still be looking at him. When he stepped up to take the corner kick, it was celebrated almost as if it was a goal. It’s almost like watching an event, one happening within another.
How about buying a shirt? Good luck!
Adidas is working to keep up with demand in certain sizes due to the craze for buying replica shirts. Even next season.
If you can find a shirt – and apparently even Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham finds it hard to find a shirt to give as a gift – logically, it’s missing the number 1 and 0 and the letters M, E, S and I.
Before Messi arrived, there were a lot of empty seats in Inter Miami’s stadium. An additional stand was erected to accommodate his needs upon arrival.
New stadium and new approach for all involved at Inter Miami
Construction has begun on Inter Miami CF Stadium, located on a 58-acre park and scheduled to open in 2025.
The team’s budget increased from $60 million to $300 million, and whenever Inter Miami played, home or away, tickets sold out within minutes.
Michelle Kaufman has been a sportswriter for about 35 years, most of that time writing about football for the Miami Herald.
“Before this man came into my life, my life was much quieter and less complicated,” she told me when we met recently at the Soccerex exhibition in Miami.
“I spend as much time with him as I do with my husband, which is probably not a good thing.
“There is a following of Messi that I have never seen before. I am doing a podcast about him and I have people watching from Gabon, Tangier (Morocco). I look at the map and wonder where those countries are”
The Inter Miami press office has never encountered anything like this – not only the best player in the world, but a celebrity as well.
So how has Messi been doing since his arrival?
Messi really runs on the pitch.
In front of a luxury suite crowd of 20,000, including LeBron James, Serena Williams and Kim Kardashian, he scored the winning free kick in injury time to make it 2-1. Defeat against Mexican Primera Division team Azul Cruz.
When he arrived, the team was bottom of the MLS standings.
Less than a month after joining, he scored a goal in the League Cup final to draw with Nashville and won the penalty shootout 10-9, winning the club’s first trophy.
Buoyed by cup success, Messi’s Miami have gone on a 12-game unbeaten run, forcing themselves into the race for a play-off spot that was almost unthinkable when he arrived.
Ultimately, it was a bridge too far, especially after a muscle injury caused Messi to miss six games in September and early October.
Now this team has transformed after a roller-coaster campaign. Failure to reach the play-offs means he can now look forward to the longest holiday of his life.
He will have about a month and a half off, although that will be interspersed with games for the national team. The dream of many fans is that Messi can continue to represent Argentina in the 2026 World Cup.
Off the field, things are going well, although the American media expects more opportunities for him.
He held just one news conference when he arrived, and the sports media has become accustomed to more frequent contact. Still, he spoke more than ever before, twice after an Apple TV game, five personal interviews after an August press conference, and in a big speech upon his arrival.
If the media wants more from him, they will be disappointed.
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Messi, captain of Inter Miami
He now has the captain’s armband, although it was not something he wanted but was forced upon him.
Going out in public is proving difficult as demand surges for anything Messi-related that can fill column inches and airtime. When he first arrived, he was photographed visiting the supermarket. That’s no longer possible because everyone knows he’s in town, even those who don’t follow football.
In the meantime, he’s committed to Miami. He flew to Paris for the Ballon d’Or ceremony, arriving at 8 a.m. on Monday and immediately flew back to Miami to return to training in the first minute on Tuesday.
He also joined the players’ WhatsApp group and shared some match tickets with those who needed them. He even gave his teammate, forward Josef Martinez, a penalty as he went through a goalless stretch.
At home, his wife, Antonella, is helping him settle in, learning about Miami, like the best places to eat and enjoy, and respecting his appearance and image off the court. He’s more confident these days, he’s found his place in the world.
They are no strangers to Miami, as the Messis own an impressive property in the area that they have rented for many years.
He has been reunited with former Barca team-mates Jordi Alba and Sergi Busquets, with Luis Suarez almost certain to join them soon.
His time in Paris was not the happiest of his life. The fans didn’t get him. But that is no longer the case and his next club goal will be in search of success in Major League Soccer for Inter Miami.
The future of Major League Soccer and how important Messi is to its security
Despite hosting great people and events like the 1994 World Cup, soccer never really “arrived” in the United States to the extent that many imagined.
How much impact will Messi’s arrival have on Major League Soccer? ESPN sports anchor Fernando Palomo, one of the most respected football commentators, has no doubts: “This is one of the biggest revolutions in sports in this country in decades,” he said.
But even so, he stopped short of confirming that the Argentinian superstar’s move to MLS would be an upward turning point for the sport.
He said: “I live in a small town in Connecticut and people who don’t talk to me about football not only come to me to talk about football but tell me they have bought Messi’s jersey, which tells you where it falls and where it How to impact this game.”
Palomo added that it’s much bigger than when Beckham first arrived, but “time will tell” if it can actually take off American soccer.
“At least the game is better than ever,” he said.
Ultimately, American sports fans’ emphasis on individuals rather than teams may make it difficult for the sport to grow in the United States to the extent that many believe it should.
In the meantime, let’s enjoy the ride together.