Lionel Messi is one of the most popular active athletes in all sports, if not the most popular. The 5ft 7″ soccer star made major waves when he agreed to sign with Inter Miami in May. Even before Messi played a single game with Inter Miami, there were a lot of responsibilities put on his shoulders. The biggest one of those is to replicate something that LeBron James took 4 years to do for the Miami Heat in a timespan of mere 12 months.
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Tonight he made his debut for the team spectacularly, winning the contest with a free kick. LeBron James was in attendance for Messi’s highly anticipated debut, and I’m sure the King wouldn’t have been disappointed with what he witnessed.
Witnessing Messi’s greatness first-hand, the chances of him actually overshadowing LBJ’s achievement is quite possible.
Lionel Messi is expected to double Inter Miami’s evaluation in 12 months, compared to LeBron James’ 4 years
LeBron James joined the Miami Heat in 2010, when the franchise was worth $300 Million. When he moved back to Cleveland in 2014, Miami’s evaluation had gone up to $770 Million. It took the King nearly 4 years to double his franchise’s value. However, when it comes to Lionel Messi, the timeline has been reduced severely.
According to several sources around the MLS, it is expected that Lionel Messi would change the Inter Miami evaluation from $600 Million to $1.6 Billion in a span of mere 12 months. However, those numbers aren’t just presented without any context.
Ever since news broke that Messi agreed to a deal with Inter Miami, their Instagram following has grown to 10.8 Million, the most of any club in MLS. The average ticket prices have gone up from $25 to $440.
On top of that, the DRV PNK stadium witnessed a sold-out crown for Messi’s debut. While every game won’t have the same level of hype, we can expect the crowd to pack the stadium for any game that Messi plays. Making the playoffs doesn’t seem in the cards for Inter Miami this year. However, if they can have a playoff run with Messi on their squad, their revenue will further skyrocket.
Messi’s debut tickets overshadow LeBron’s scoring record game
It’s merely been a couple of months since LeBron James overtook Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record at home in Los Angeles. The atmosphere was electric and people paid through their noses to witness it in person. The highest ticket went for nearly $92,000.
However, in just his very first game, Lionel Messi has managed to overshadow that. The highest ticket sold for his Inter Miami debut tonight was nearly $110,000.
It’s clear that the Messi fever is real. That just spells good things for the future of soccer in the US, and maybe open another investment avenue for the King.
