Inter Miami and Lionel Messi burnout
This week it was announced that Inter Miami CF had sold out its allocation of season tickets for the 2024 Major League Soccer season. The news of season tickets selling out came after many fans complained about the price of tickets soaring following Lionel Messi’s arrival at the South Florida club.
Inter Miami season ticket news was the first time I’d thought about the MLS team in weeks. After Messi joined the club in July, you couldn’t go anywhere on the Internet without reading about the Argentine World Cup winner playing in the United States and the Miami club.
I wholeheartedly admit that I’ve never been much of a Messi fan. Sure, he can do some amazing things with a football, but I’ve always seen the teams he played for to be boring.
Although I dedicated a few articles on Drew FC to Messi and Inter Miami, and believe me, I thought they would win the MLS Cup, I have a case of Inter Miami and Messi burnout.
MLS sold out to Apple ahead of the 2023 season. The league had few options in terms of broadcasters. Messi’s arrival gave MLS and Apple a marquee star to sell. Both parties tried very hard to sell the league based on Messi, and it worked to some degree.
In September, it was reported, with no evidence to my knowledge, that Apple had 2 million subscribers for MLS Season Pass. If this is true, and based on a lack of transparency, it may not be, then MLS would have gained more than 1 million subscribers to Season Pass following Messi’s arrival.
But with Inter Miami and Messi not playing in the MLS Cup playoffs, how many of those fans are tuning into postseason games?
It makes sense that MLS Cup playoff ratings would be low with Messi not playing in the postseason. Why? Because many of the MLS Season Pass Subscribers that joined following Messi’s arrival only signed up to watch the Argentine.
MLS attracts soccer fans of specific teams rather than fans who want to watch soccer games. The average fan of an MLS team is unlikely to watch a match that doesn’t feature the club they support.
In comparison, Premier League fans regularly tune into matches just to watch. For example, I may support Liverpool, but I watch plenty of Manchester United matches. Why? Because I want to see Man United lose. My hatred for United is so great that I want to watch them lose and dedicate time during the week to see it.
As I write this, MLS still has a few weeks to go in the playoffs. It feels like the 2023 season has been going forever. Indeed it started on February 25, and it was going four months before Messi showed up.
By the time the 2023 season ends in December, teams, players, and coaches will have roughly two months to rest and recover before the next season. It could be even shorter. The short offseason will give MLS the chance to cash-in on Messi even more. But it will also leave me even more burnt out.