MLS Weekly: Messi mania
Journalist Kyle Bonn talks Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in the latest MLS Weekly.
A whirlwind of speculation over Lionel Messi’s future ended on June 7th when the 35-year-old confirmed he would be heading over to MLS to join Inter Miami.
Messi, after two years at Paris Saint-Germain, was interested in a return to Barcelona but was unwilling to wait on his former club attempting to navigate their financial difficulties in order to facilitate such a move. He also turned down the advances of Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal.
LISTEN: MESSI, MIAMI AND MLS
The confirmation that Messi would be signing for Miami has led to mania. The club now has more Instagram followers than any NFL team; MLS teams that are set to play Miami after Messi’s forecasted debut (which could be sometime in July) are selling out their stadiums and, in some cases, having to open up more seating; ticket prices are soaring.
With the help of Kyle Bonn, a journalist for The Sporting News, More Than A Game dives into the impact Messi will have, and is already having, in MLS.
MESSI MANIA
“It’s everything,” Bonn tells MTAG. “This is the biggest moment in US club soccer for sure and maybe the landscape in general since the David Beckham move in 2007. Probably even bigger [than that]. We’ve seen the frenzy since Messi joined – we don’t even know when he’s going to debut for Miami and already ticket prices are soaring.
“I’m in North Carolina, about an hour from the Charlotte FC. I know the folks down there pretty well – they, within 24 hours, had to open the upper bull [tier]. They usually only open the lower so they don’t look like they have a sparse crowd on TV, but they had to open the upper and I’m pretty sure they’ve almost sold out already. So this is just a frenzy in the US and it’s going to have wide-ranging consequences, hopefully most of them positive.”
This is the biggest moment in US club soccer…
Kyle Bonn, The Sporting News
NO EASY RIDE
D.C. United coach Wayne Rooney, himself a big-name player who spent time in MLS towards the end of his career, is thrilled to see Messi join the league.
“Different players from overseas,” Rooney told reporters last week.
“To get Messi in the league, arguably the greatest player of all time. It’s going to be great for the league, for Miami. He’s the best. Simple as that. In my view he’s the best player to ever play the game. That’s how he’s different. The fanbase around him will be huge, commercially, for the league I’m sure it’ll be huge as well. It’s massive for MLS.
“One thing I will say – it’s not going to be easy for him. The league’s a difficult league and I don’t think he’s going to come over here and absolutely tear it up immediately. He’ll have to adapt because it’s a bit different, it won’t be an easy ride for him.”
Bonn thinks slightly differently, though stressed that Messi alone will not transform Miami into a top side.
“His team are struggling, it’s not going to be amazing straight away. Look at Messi at PSG. He struggled his first year, but this season he was a top-five player in Europe.
“There’s no way to argue he wasn’t, and the fans booed the crap out of him. He could be brilliant on the field, and I think he’s going to roast a few guys, that doesn’t mean the teams going to win everything and it doesn’t mean it’s going to look great at times. I still think he’s the best in the world right now. But it’s not always optically going to be amazing, and I don’t think that means he hasn’t been amazing, I think fans need to understand that.”
He’s the best. Simple as that.
Wayne Rooney, D.C. United coach on Lionel Messi
A HUGE STEP
Asked whether this was the injection MLS needed ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in North America, Bonn said:
“I don’t think it’s the injection that it needed but I certainly think it’s an injection that is wanted and very, very helpful. I don’t think MLS needs Lionel Messi but he’s incredibly valuable and can be the centrepiece of the next step for the league, which is becoming fully profitable on its own.
“Right now, MLS has built itself into a quality brand and crafted a culture and fanbase around the country but it still relies heavily on expansion fees, and they’re at a point where they don’t really want to do that anymore. It’s not what’s keeping the business going but it’s certainly a big part of the model – when you get $500million for a new team that’s how things work.
“They can’t rely on that forever, so this injection of branding, frenzy and excitement is what they are hoping will craft the next phase in their business and that translates into a growth of soccer culture. That is really where they’re trying to go and a huge step in the right direction.”
LIKE WATCHING MICHAEL JORDAN
Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes, like Rooney, is excited to see Messi grace MLS.
“I thought when Beckham came to the league he had an incredible impact on our league, and the notoriety that got worldwide, he helped achieve a new bar in how people perceived our league,” he said.
“Messi’s the best player in the world, so to be able to have the best player in the world playing in the league that you’re involved in, that’s tremendous. It’s a huge opportunity for our league, it’s great in so many ways and from the fans’ perspective too. It’s like watching Michael Jordan play basketball – he’s from another planet that guy, when he plays.”
PULLING POWER
Bonn believes Messi’s decision to snub the cash on offer from Saudi Arabia can only be a positive when it comes to attracting other top-calibre players.
“Messi spoke openly about how he chose the United States because of the quality of life. That’s a really big sign for the league and the country and a signal to other top players that there’s something other than hard cash value to move here to the US. There are other leagues around the world that MLS is competing with and now they have a prime example to say Messi was convinced that all these things would come together that offset this massive cash value.
“The reporting seems to indicate that [Sergio] Busquets is in the works right now. There’s a limit to what Miami can do. Their designated player (DP) slots are already full, they’re going to have to fit Messi into one of those, unquestionably. The three DPs they have are not expendable, so they’ll have to figure that out.
“[Jordi] Alba, Angel Di Maria, they could probably be convinced to join another club in the league if Messi says ‘Hey, come play, we’ll hang out in the off-season, we’ll hang out a couple of times a year’. I could see Orlando City going ‘We’re only a couple of hours away, come and play for us’. I could definitely see those guys joining Messi in the league.
“Total speculation, but I talk about Orlando. Facundo Torres is already there, what if Luis Suarez says he wants to go and play with an up-and-coming Uruguayan? I know he turned down a contract offer from Miami a couple of months ago but apparently there’s a release clause of some kind in his contract and I think that would be cool, that would be fun.”
FINDING THE BALANCE
So, what’s the next steps for MLS as they aim to capitalise on Messi’s star power?
Bonn adds: “The thing that MLS needs to figure out now is how to get the level of the average player up. They went from ageing players, a ‘retirement league’ and the next step was purchasing young talent.
“Now they’re working on developing domestic talent and now the next step is developing those players into ones that aren’t just being sold for cash but stay and become prime players. They’re well on their way through that procession but they’re not quite at the full sustainability yet.
“Look at what Messi did for Inter Miami. They’ve gone over six million Instagram followers now, which is more than any NFL team, any NHL team and any baseball team. There’s only two or three NBA teams that have more than that, so people are watching, following and that’s what this move does. It just adds to that base of people who are following and watching. Now they have to translate that to engagement and it’s what they’re hoping to accomplish, and then retain that engagement.”
By Patric Ridge