At this point every person who lives in Miami has seen the news of soccer superstar, Lionel Messi’s arrival into MLS Intermiami soccer club. Whether it was through a meme of him in Publix, the out of stock Inter shirts, the billboards, or the newly experience tickets, everyone knew the Argentinian soccer phenom had come to the 305.
Messi, winner of the 2023 World Cup, has truly left his mark on the DRV PNK stadium. Not only has he scored at least one goal in every single match since he arrived, he has won every match.
Like For anyone, starting something new is hard especially with a whole new group of teammates, but if the last 20 years have taught soccer fans anything, it’s that Messi is not human.
“All my friends became obsessed with watching the Inter games all of the sudden as soon as he joined the club.” Said Senior Daniela Quiros.
Over the past few weeks, fans have gone wild in Miami, an already largely Hispanic city, in support of the team in the League’s cup. After a couple rough patches and some very stressful penalties, the team got to raise the cup. Going undefeated, Messi and his teammates were able to bring the team’s first cup home. Being his 44th trophy during his soccer career, a number no one has yet to come close to .
Not only has he helped his team, he has also single-handedly helped the economy. Messi has a partnership with Apple to stream the MLS Inter games which has brought insane amounts of money to the soccer business, changing the game for streaming services and sports collaborations. Last week, Apple announced that their MLS season pass had over 1 million new subscriptions.
The company’s investment, estimated at $2.5 billion, ended a nearly 30-year partnership between the U.S. league and ESPN.
— JF Días, MLS interview.
As well as partnerships, the match tickets themselves risen exponentially since the news of his move to MLS. Tickets jumped from two to three digits in the span of one mouse click. Messi’s unveiling was in front of a packed house on a Monday despite horrible weather conditions that delayed the show. People from all over the world flew in to witness his debut as well as artists, actors, celebrities, other soccer players, and more.
“I went to a game once and the prices for the tickets were nowhere near what they are now. In the blink of an eye it doubled.” Said senior Isabella Brand.
Clearly, the signing of Messi was a huge success for the club and its impact has had a significant growth on the Club’s fanbase. People stood under the rain for three hours in line to buy Messi shirts in his debut. The team’s social media as well as players grew immensely over night. Inter Miami’s socials almost quadrupled in followers since the announcement of his arrival. Their merchandise sales tripled as this has become one of the most famous teams of the moment.
