Lionel Messi, in the football Olympus for 20 years and last world champion with the Argentine national teammoved the world of football by announcing his arrival at the intermiami, the team of the Mas brothers and David Beckham, and already generated economic income that far exceed what the North American club paid to hire him.
In addition, it allowed the team to obtain its first title, qualified it for a key tournament and made it win the local championship for the first time in more than a dozen games. The data that begins to transcend about the economic impact depth of the landing reveal that Messi won a fortune in just over a month.
Lionel Messi: what the Fortune magazine report says
A report published by Fortune magazine highlights that the “messi effect” was manifested in the first instance with the growth of followers that Inter Miami had on its Instagram account, where it now accumulates more than 14 million followers, more than any NFL, NHL or Major League Baseball (MLB), which are sports much more massive than soccer on American soil.
“It is difficult to pin down the exact figures because a lot of the data is not publicly available or not yet available. But it appears that Messi’s new deal with MLS’s Inter Miami, for between $50 million and $60 million, includes agreements of revenue sharing with the league’s sponsors, Apple and Adidas, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” explains the business magazine.
Major League Soccer (MLS) matches are broadcast by AppleTV, a platform that added 300,000 new subscribers in July (now there are around 1.4 million subscribers in total), the month in which Messi announced his decision to play for the Florida team, according to Sports Business Journal.
The bonus to watch the entire season costs $99, so that increase in subscribers would have generated almost $30 million. However, some passes are obtained with promotions with other companies like T-Mobile and LG.
Beyond that it takes a streaming service Specific to see Messi in action, the MLS exploits the dissemination of images on social networks to the maximum. There are leagues that choose to geolocate their videos, but in the United States they chose to expand the highlights without restrictions.
For example, La Pulga’s first goal scored more than 214 million visits on social networks and around 14 million impressions, according to analytics company Zoomph. These are more than attractive numbers for advertisers.
As for the live Viewers, No one wants to miss the opportunity to see the Argentine star play in person, which has skyrocketed ticket prices for Inter Miami matches by 1,700% on the resale market, according to CNBC.
In the presentation against New York Red Bulls, tickets were obtained from $425, but there were also VIP accesses for four people that cost a little more than $50,000.
According to Fortune’s calculations, in just two months since Lionel Messi arrived in MLS, he has generated at least $265 million in ticket sales.
The full picture of Financial impact de La Pulga is much higher if you add the shirts sold, as well as everything that the spectators consume during the matches (parking, food, drinks, merchandising).
So much inter miami as adidas, sponsor of all MLS teams, reported in July that orders for Messi’s number 10 jerseys are backlogged until October.
On the United States website, the jersey has a cost of $180, twice as much as the Argentina shirt with which he became world champion in Qatar. According to ESPN, it was the fastest-selling jersey in the first 24 hours of launch.
It is speculated that Leo Messi’s contract is similar to the one David Beckham signed at the time, that is, it includes a shareholding in Inter Miami.
His portion of the shares could already be worth more than it was before the transfer was made. Jorge Mas, one of Beckham’s owners and partner, said he believes the club’s revenue will double in the first year. Initially, just a couple of weeks ago, the investment firm Ares Management injected other u$s75 million in Inter Miami.
Unprecedented numbers for the sport that open an extraordinary expectation towards the Copa América (2024) and the Soccer World Cup (2026). Both tournaments will be organized by the United States.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
