The Future. It’s official: Lionel Messi is in Miami. Inter Miami — the team that amazingly beat out Saudi Arabia to land the athlete — is strategizing to make this their “David Beckham moment” for Miami and transform the US into a top player in the world’s most popular sport.
The Messi Effect
Inter Miami is hoping Messi turns the city into the soccer capital of the US.
- It’s selling tickets for a minimum of $350 a pop… and will likely sell out.
- It’s building a $1 billion stadium in Miami’s Freedom Park.
- It saw its Instagram followers leap from 900,000 to 10 million.
As Sheffield Business School football finance expert Rob Wilson told the investment platform Saxo, “Messi’s impact is all about profile — that individual personality, at the pinnacle of his playing career, was a massive coup for the MLS. Sponsors and partners want to be associated and that’s what he brings.”
And for his part, Messi is getting $150 million over two and a half years, a share of the revenue from MLS’ deals with AppleTV+ and adidas, and some good ole’ Miami sun.
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