There is no corner of American soccer where Lionel Messi has not made an impact since he decided to play for Inter Miami. His great performances caused a fever in Major League Soccer (MLS), where the public paid huge sums of money to see him play every week. And this effect also shows itself in reverse these days, since the idol of Argentina left the franchise created by David Beckham to play with the Argentine team in the Qualifiers.
This Saturday, the team led by Gerardo Tata Martino will host Sporting Kansas City for the 28th day of the North American league at the DRV PNK Stadium, a match Las Garzas will face without La Pulga. And the impact of Messi has become clear again: ticket prices have decreased significantly during these hours.
Although on Ticketmaster, the official MLS ticket sales site, tickets are sold for as little as $100, the most popular resale platforms on the planet – such as Stubhub or TicketNetwork – show more readily available numbers as they become available. approaching (7:30 pm local time). There you can get tickets starting at $20 and there are promotions at certain times to have discounts. Many of the 20 thousand seats in the DRV PNK Stadium will be empty this weekend in the absence of the Argentine star.
To understand the complete difference, the same sales platforms mentioned have tickets available starting at $117 for the match that Inter Miami will play next Wednesday, September 20, against Toronto FC on Matchday 33 of the MLS, one day it will probably return to Messi. to the DRV PNK Stadium takes place after scoring a unique free kick goal against Ecuador and giving Argentina its first victory on the way to the next World Cup.
At game time, resale sites offer tickets to see Inter Miami at low prices
Before Leo came to Miami, tickets to see an Inter Miami game could cost close to $10 for some games. But since the arrival of the Argentine, the costs have increased as well as his goals and each presentation of his MLS has become more attractive than the first.
The last game Lionel Messi played for Inter Miami before traveling to Argentina was against Los Angeles FC at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California. As reported by CNN, based on the TickPick site, ticket prices for that game are “the most expensive in history” for an MLS match.
Inter Miami will play the first game without Messi since the Argentine arrived in the United States: the difference in ticket prices is surprising
On average, official tickets cost $690, that is, they suffered an increase of 527% in relation to the average price of tickets for an MLS match, since they used to cost approx. which is $110 in this sports venue where Inter Miami achieved a 3-1 victory against the Los Angeles team thanks to goals from Facundo Farías, Jordi Alba and Leonardo Campana, with assists from Messi at the end which are two purposes.
As the rage increases with each game, there is a possibility that there will be an increase in prices due to the increase in demand. When Leo made his MLS debut, there was an increase of up to 1,000% on some tickets to see the New York Red Bulls in the Big Apple. The good thing for the fans left outside is that the game can also be seen for free in Times Square, one of the most iconic places in the city.
This revolution in seeing it up close has shown itself in many ways throughout the cities it has visited in the short time it has been on North American soil. For example, when he moved with Inter Miami to play in the semifinals of the Leagues Cup against the Philadelphia Union, online sales to attend the Subaru Park Stadium – with a capacity of 18,500 people – sold out in just 8 minutes, which exceeded 18 minutes The tickets for the round of 16 match against FC Dallas at the Toyota Stadium in Texas have been sold out for a long time. There, to understand the magnitude of the event, sales on the AXS page range from 150 to 20,000 dollars in 32 available sectors.
Messi scored 11 goals in his first 10 games in the United States, which explains why this phenomenon was created in every stadium where he appeared. And his arrival not only increased the number of match tickets, it also affected TV broadcasting rights and t-shirt sales, among other aspects.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the day before his debut at Inter Miami there were 110,000 users who paid for the MLS Pass on the Apple TV platform to see him in action. That whole week, the average was more than 5,000 new subscriptions per day (with peaks of almost 10,000), something that is not common. This is exclusive data for the US market, so all payers from Latin America and the rest of the world are not taken into account.
One cannot also ignore the other face of Messi’s impact in Miami with the great interest it has aroused in some of the leading celebrities of that country. From the image of LeBron James and Serena Williams recording the Argentine from the side of the field in his debut to the large list of figures who signed up – with the famous presence of Leonardo Di Caprio, among others – in Los Angeles to see the last game he played before traveling to Argentina.
All the fans who are currently watching Inter Miami will miss Messi this Saturday in the duel against Sporting Kansas City. With his genius on the field, he led a team that is currently last in the Eastern Conference standings to become the champion of the Leagues Cup and become a finalist in the US Open Cup – they will face each other on September 27 at the DRV PNK Stadium. For that game, tickets are already priced at around $300 and some will pay more than that to sell with the hope of seeing the Argentine idol lift a new trophy in his career.
