“The future of soccer in America is so bright,” Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham said in an Adidas news conference on the eve of Lionel Messi’s debut with the MLS club. “I’ve seen the growth of it over the last 10, 15 years … Bringing someone like [Messi] not just to Inter Miami, but to MLS, to America, it means so much. You have the eyes of not just Latina America, but the world on Miami.”
When the news broke that soccer’s all-time greatest talent would be taking his talents to South Beach — after almost four years of courtship — Inter Miami’s global popularity, as far as Google searches go, increased by more than 1,200%.
“When Lionel Messi announced his move to Inter Miami,” said Gene Cook, vice president of global collectibles at eBay, “searches for his collectibles — spanning trading cards and memorabilia — increased over 75% the following day on eBay … globally.”
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Ticket prices on the secondary market for Messi’s first Miami matches catapulted more than 1,000%. On July 20, the eve of Messi’s debut, the average ticket price for the Leagues Cup match against Liga MX’s Cruz Azul was $712, according to TicketSmarter. According to Vivid Seats, the average ticket price for the Cruz Azul game increased 205% from June 4 to June 7, when he announced his decision to join the Herons, rising from $122 to $373.
From digital sports platform and MLS e-commerce partner Fanatics, since the news of Messi coming to Inter Miami broke, more team merchandise has been sold than the previous entirety of 2023 combined. In the same timeframe, Inter Miami have been Fanatics’ top-selling MLS club, selling 50% more merchandise than their closest rival.
The first 24 hours of Messi jersey sales, confirmed by Fanatics, were the best 24 hours of any player changing teams across all sports, edging out Cristiano Ronaldo joining Manchester United in 2021, Tom Brady joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 and LeBron James joining the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018.
From July 17 to July 20, Inter Miami were Fanatics’ top-selling team across all sports. “That is unheard of for an MLS team,” said a source from Fanatics. The day following the Messi news, Inter Miami merchandise sales spiked 50 times the previous pre-Messi day.
