After months of speculation, Lionel Messi will not be going to Saudi Arabia or returning to Barcelona. Instead, Lionel Messi will be joining Inter Miami.
Inter Miami is owned by former Manchester United superstar David Beckham and local Miami billionaire Jorge Mas. The South Florida club is currently without a manager and sits at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Messi to Inter Miami obviously stands a big chance of changing Miami’s place in the standings, but his impact on the league as a whole will be much greater.
Pelé and David Beckham are the only two stars whose arrival fundamentally changed soccer in North America. Pelé’s barnstorming Cosmos set attendance records throughout the country, many of which still haven’t been broken. Beckham joining the LA Galaxy ushered in a new era of investment in MLS with the Designated Player Rule. Messi’s arrival can blow both Pelé and Beckham’s impacts out of the water.
Messi’s arrival in MLS comes at arguably the most important period in MLS history. The league has just signed a ten-year, $2.5 billion streaming deal with Apple TV. On the ground, many new teams are seeing sellout crowds, while established powers, like the LA Galaxy, struggle to garner fan support. Additionally, the upcoming 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico, and Canada presents an important opportunity for growth that MLS needs to capitalize on.
Finally, MLS is in a period of record investment. Expansion fees have soared to $500 million. Many fans, players, coaches, and team owners are imploring MLS to loosen its roster rules so that teams can invest more into their rosters. When you take all of these factors into consideration, Messi joining Inter Miami and MLS has the potential to be the most important move in the history of soccer in North America.
Attendance will be the most visible impact of Messi coming to MLS. It is very likely Messi’s Inter Miami will bring in Pelé-like attendances around the country. Concerns over stadium size and a player like Messi playing on artificial turf could even see games moved to larger venues and venues with grass fields, such as NFL and college football stadiums. Many of these stadiums have 80,000-plus or even 100,000-plus capacities. Alternatively, Messi’s arrival could spur some MLS owners to abandon their turf fields in favor of grass ones, which is something many fans and players have been demanding for years.
Financially speaking, like Beckham, Messi’s arrival could be an inflection point regarding team spending. Messi will be the highest-paid player in MLS history. Early reports say that Messi’s Inter Miami contract will include a record-breaking base salary, a cut of Apple and Adidas’ MLS profits, and an option to purchase a stake in Inter Miami in the future. The final contractual provision is similar to the one included in David Beckham’s LA Galaxy contract, which ultimately led to Beckham owning Inter Miami.
It’s extremely unlikely other players will get equal profit-sharing and ownership options, but Messi’s base salary will undoubtedly affect how much teams are willing to pay other players. Messi’s arrival also potentially could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back regarding MLS’s strict roster rules. In order to facilitate more spending, the league could finally usher in the end of TAM, GAM, Designated Players, and all the other roster restrictions that many say are holding MLS back.
Messi being in MLS could also inspire other high-profile players to follow his lead and come to the US. MLS teams will need to spend if they are going to bring in these players. If Messi brings in the attention and revenues many expect he will, team owners should have more than enough money to spend on big players.
PSG gained 15 million social media followers when Messi joined the club and lost over a million Instagram followers when the Argentine left the club. Revenue-wise, some estimates claim PSG earned €700 million in revenue in Messi’s first year at the Paris club from new sponsorships, jersey sales, and other Messi-related revenue streams. For comparison, MLS’s top clubs barely have 1 million Instagram followers and the league’s annual revenue is just over $1 billion per year. Simply put, Messi’s arrival has the potential to nearly double MLS’s revenue.
MLS’s Apple TV deal greatly increases the chances of these predicted revenues coming true. Unlike the Saudi League, Ligue 1, and LaLiga, which have different broadcast partners in every country, the MLS-Apple partnership sees games broadcasted to virtually every country in the world exclusively on Apple TV. In practice, this makes MLS one of the most accessible leagues in the world.
Millions of eyes around the world will now firmly be on MLS, Inter Miami, and of course, Lionel Messi. Whether the league, team, and player will capitalize on this and deliver the soccer revolution many are expecting is still yet to be seen. For now, all we can do is watch as arguably the greatest player of all time embarks on potentially the last challenge of his magnificent career.
