Messi takes on the giant professional sports leagues in the US

"The US Major League Soccer (MLS) hopes to have a breakthrough in stadium attendance, television audience and market share, after Messi officially joins Inter Miami Club next month," Marca newspaper assessed.

Messi is expected to create a breakthrough for the MLS.

The Spanish newspaper added: "Pele signed for New York Cosmos in 1975 and David Beckham joined LA Galaxy in 2007, Messi is expected to become the third super football propagator in a country where the sport has been catching up with the world after more than a century."

"Messi coming to MLS is an event that cannot be replicated in any other way," said former U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. "You have one of the greatest players of all time. After the World Cup and the global popularity of Messi, coming to an American soccer league. It's a great opportunity for the sport in America," said Sunil Gulati.

Messi came to MLS at the age of 36, while Pele was 34 and Beckham was 32. But unlike the two players above, when they came to the US, they were already past the peak of their careers. Messi is still regularly playing for the Argentina national team and could play in the 2024 Copa America as well as the 2026 World Cup, both of which will take place in the US. Therefore, the effect will be extremely large and MLS's hopes for Messi are very positive.

Beckham also made a breakthrough for American football.

"Before Pele came to the US, the average attendance in 1974 was only 3,578. But after Pele arrived and left in 1977, the average attendance for the New York Cosmos increased to more than 34,000. This effect has also increased significantly since Beckham's arrival. Therefore, the appearance of Messi promises to create a breakthrough for MLS.

MLS was born in 1996 to replace the North American Championship, which ended in 1984, with only 10 teams initially. But this year MLS has increased to 29 teams and will add San Diego to the mix in 2025. MLS attendance has increased from 2.8 million and an average of 17,400 in 1996 to 10 million and an average of 21,033 last year. Total attendance is up 28% this year and the average is 7%. Around 22 MLS clubs now play in new or almost completely rebuilt soccer-specific stadiums, with only 6 teams playing on artificial turf," Marca commented on the development of MLS.

Messi and his sons on the day he left PSG

However, these figures for MLS are still far behind professional sports leagues in the US such as the NFL, MLB and NBA. "The NFL attracted an average of 16.7 million viewers across television and digital platforms last season. The league attracted 18.8 million people to stadiums, an average of 69,442. MLB's was 64.6 million, an average of 26,843. Therefore, Messi will have to face these challenges to help MLS gradually narrow the gap and catch up with the market share of giant leagues in the US," Marca added.

"Current signs show that Messi's influence can help MLS grow strongly in the near future. Messi also has 469 million followers on Instagram, which is a huge advantage. Inter Miami also gained 3.8 million followers on Instagram (up to nearly 6 million) when Messi joined. Inter Miami plans to move to another stadium, the Hard Rock, which has a capacity of 65,000 seats instead of the current stadium with only 18,000 spectators, to meet the demand for tickets to watch this famous player play," Marca reported.

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