Lionel Messi after scoring against FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium on August 06, 2023 in Frisco, Texas.
Logan Riely | Getty Images
Superstar Lionel Messi has only played fewer than 10 games within the U.S. men’s skilled soccer league and he’s having never-before-seen effects.
Messi joined Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami CF in late July, triggering an increase in ticket prices and the markets the team has to this point visited. His signing led to record-breaking jersey and merchandise sales. TV and streaming viewership surged.
“I don’t need to say we underestimated Messi coming to the MLS, nevertheless it’s been unbelievably impactful to our league across all points,” said Camilo Durana, executive vp of Apple partnership, properties and events.
Still, while Messi has had an unprecedented effect on MLS, which was founded within the Nineteen Nineties, it hasn’t been enough to catch as much as the opposite more distinguished skilled sports leagues within the U.S. just like the NFL and NBA, by way of viewership and ticket prices.
“The MLS needs more Messi’s,” sports consultant Lee Berke said, noting MLS’ history of bringing over stars like David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Thierry Henry within the twilight of their careers and beckoning more fans and viewership in those moments.
On top of competition from other, more established leagues for top players, Saudi Arabia has also joined the combo recruiting players with offers of boatloads of money from its Public Investment Fund, including Messi. Brazilian soccer star Neymar recently accepted a proposal, following soccer legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, with contracts value tons of of thousands and thousands of dollars.
The Messi effect
The Argentine superstar joined the MLS in July, coming off a World Cup victory in 2022. Messi left the French team Paris Saint-Germain after reluctantly exiting FC Barcelona in 2021 – his home since signing with the team on the age of 13.
The 36-year-old, often considered the “GOAT,” or “best of all time” in the game, is nearing his retirement and giving MLS – still considered to be in its infancy compared with other U.S. leagues – a much needed boost.
Supporters of Argentinian soccer player Leo Messi gather outside the Inter Miami DRV Pnk Stadium, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, July 11, 2023.
Marco Bello | Reuters
Since joining, Inter Miami rose to the highest-selling MLS team for tickets from the thirteenth spot on StubHub.
Since joining Inter Miami, Messi is the top-selling player across all sports on Fanatics, a digital sports platform that sells gear and team merchandise, an organization spokesperson said. Within the time since Messi joined Inter Miami, the team has sold more merchandise than it did in all of 2022 on Fanatics. And he’s been a lift to MLS’ TV home on Apple’s streaming service.
MLS’ Durana also said that the surge in ticket sales got here immediately when Messi announced his intention to sign with the league. “And one of the best part is, he got here to play,” said Durana of Messi’s stats since his arrival.Â
Messi to this point has only played within the newly expanded Leagues Cup, a tournament between North America’s two leagues MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX, and a U.S. Cup semifinal game. Inter Miami won the Leagues Cup on Aug. 19, and Messi scored at the least one goal in all seven of the games he played in.
On Saturday, Messi will play in his first regular-season game against the Red Bulls in Harrison, Latest Jersey, a few 30-minute train ride west of Manhattan.
“These are numbers we do not see at a MLS match normally,” said Marc de Grandpré general manager of the Latest York Red Bulls regarding ticket sales. He added lot of people that aren’t fans will probably be coming to the sector simply to see Messi.
Seeking to ride this wave, teams are pushing season tickets as a surefire approach to see Inter Miami play again next season at face value.
Ticket prices on the secondary market have shot up. The typical ticket price for Inter Miami on StubHub is $161, nearly 64% higher than the league average. Nationwide match-up ticket sales are up, too.
The general average MLS ticket price is as much as $98, while the typical ticket price for the Leagues Cup overall was $152. For games that Messi has played in, the typical ticket price is greater than double that at $329, in keeping with StubHub.
While this has been a boon to MLS, these stats still lag behind the NFL and NBA.
“It’s hard to check this to other sports. Yes, what we’re seeing in pricing for the MLS for Messi games is unprecedented. But for those who take a look at average ticket prices for NFL Sunday games, that is still king in that sense,” said StubHub spokesperson Adam Budelli.
Anytime Tom Brady – who retired from the NFL earlier this yr – was on the road during his previous couple of seasons with Tampa Bay before retiring, StubHub saw ticket prices and demand surge in those markets, too. Or when Lebron James was chasing the NBA’s all-time scoring record earlier this yr.Â
“Those average ticket prices were still thrice what we’re seeing for Messi games to this point this yr,” Budelli said.
Playing catch-up
Like ticket sales, viewership for MLS games lags far behind skilled U.S. sports leagues.
Disney‘s ESPN averaged 14.8 million viewers for every of its NFL games last season while the 34 regular-season MLS matchups it aired in 2022 on ABC and ESPN’s networks averaged 343,000 viewers. This marked the very best MLS viewership across Disney’s networks since 2007.
Quantifying viewership for this season is difficult as the vast majority of MLS games are exclusively on Apple’s streaming service.
“It is a primarily streaming-only package. If there was a sturdy linear TV presence, Messi games would find their way onto major prime-time slots and get high viewership,” sports consultant Berke said.
Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers waves to the gang as he runs off the sphere after defeating the Latest England Patriots in the sport at Gillette Stadium on October 03, 2021 in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Adam Glanzman | Getty Images
Apple and MLS signed a ten year-deal that began this season to broadcast matches. Matches are accessed through MLS Season Pass, a standalone service and an add-on to the Apple TV+ streaming service.
The partnership is just months-old, but MLS said subscribers have greater than doubled since Messi’s arrival, and Spanish-language viewership on MLS Season Pass has surpassed 50% for Messi matches.
An Apple representative pointed to comments made by Apple CEO Tim Cook during a recent earnings call, and Jorge Mas, Inter Miami’s managing owner, on X, the platform formerly generally known as Twitter, regarding the MLS streaming subscribers since Messi’s arrival.
“It’s clearly within the early days, but we’re beating our expectations by way of subscribers, and the undeniable fact that Messi went to Inter Miami helped us on the market a bit,” Cook said through the August earnings call.
MLS’ media rights take care of Apple got here because the league saw a chance with its young fanbase, which tends to lean toward streaming, MLS’ Durana said. For the reason that League Pass can also be available globally, it allows MLS to expand its fan base across U.S. borders, where soccer is usually the dominant skilled sport unlike the U.S.Â
MLS did sign a four-year deal for a few of its matches to air on traditional TV networks, which incorporates select regular-season games, the Leagues Cup and MLS Cup.
Leagues Cup matches averaged 680,000 viewers, higher than every MLS postseason average ever, in keeping with Nielsen. In total, 13.6 million people tuned into the Leagues Cup games.
For the few games which have appeared on traditional TV this season, MLS is averaging 250,000 viewers season up to now.
As media firms still determine the economics of streaming – and how one can make it profitable – sports has remained a driver of viewership on broadcast and pay TV. And the lucrative fees that stem from media rights deals have propped up leagues and teams, often allowing them to take a position more heavily in players.
“It’s good to put money into more players. As a way to try this, the league’s economics need to alter,” Berke added. “And it’s challenging when other leagues, and now the Saudis, are throwing money at top players, too.”
Durana of the MLS noted the league has spent billions investing in its clubs, from players to stadiums, because it grows its following. The Red Bulls’ de Grandpré said Messi validates MLS’ growth and presence on a worldwide scale.
“Now I believe we’ll see more players want to return and join this league, and it would help us over time to construct on this momentum,” de Grandpré said.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct Camilo Durana’s title to executive vp of Apple partnership, properties and events at MLS.
