Will Lionel Messi’s arrival spark a football renaissance in the US?

On Sunday night, Argentina’s football great Lionel Messi was presented to 20,000 adoring supporters in a star-studded event, full of razzmatazz, at Inter Miami’s DRV PNK Stadium in the US.

After Cuban-American co-owner Jorge Mas welcomed Messi onto the stage alongside a delegation – including president and co-owner David Beckham, Messi took the microphone to tell the crowd that he has the “same desire that I always had to compete, to want to win, to help the club continue to grow”.

Messi left French champions Paris St-Germain (PSG) at the end of the 2022-23 season, as his contract expired, declining offers from Saudi Arabia and Barcelona.

The build-up to the seven-time Ballon D’Or winner’s arrival in South Florida has been massive.

Global Argentine artist Maxi Bagnasco, who paid tributes to the sport’s legend Maradona by painting an aeroplane which flew to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, has completed a large Messi Mural in downtown Miami.

Bagnasco’s 20m X 40m mural adorning a Wynwood building shows Messi donning the Inter Miami pink soccer jersey.

Ahead of Messi’s Inter Miami unveiling, Beckham and later Argentina’s Football Association, Claudio ‘Chiqui’ Tapia, surprised Bagnasco. Both popped down to observe the artist’s colourful homage, marking Messi’s historic move to the US.

After flying in from Albania, where he was painting another Messi mural, Bagnasco tells TRT World, “I believe the arrival of Messi here in the US is going to entail that football gains importance and all of the top players (will) start to come.” On Sunday, Inter Miami also presented Messi’s ex-teammate at Barcelona, Sergio Busquets.

Alex G. Gillett, a senior lecturer in Marketing at the University of York School for Business and Society and an avid follower of North American football, believes that Messi, arguably the world’s most famous player currently, follows in the footsteps of many previous greats who headed to the US, including David Beckham, Franz Beckenbaur and Bobby Moore.

“As an attacking player who can change speed and direction at will, with an eye for the goal and the world's top footballing honours under his belt, he (Messi) still has the world at his feet,” Gillett tells TRT World.

“He will inspire and entertain wherever he goes, and on paper, at least, the timing of his move appears perfect for Messi and for the MLS.”

Messi’s move also comes at a time when the FIFA World Cup heads to the US, Mexico and Canada in 2026, while the Copa America heads to the US in 2024. These tournaments come in the wake of Messi enjoying high-profile success internationally, lifting the 2021 Copa America, the Finalissima 2022 and the 2022 World Cup.

At the club level, Messi is expected to debut on July 21 in a League Cup game against Mexican club Cruz Azul - a revamped competition between Major League Soccer (MLS) and Mexican clubs.

Challenges at Inter Miami

But the 36 year-old Messi will likely face a stark reality compared to his experiences at PSG and Barcelona.

Inter Miami sit bottom of their division in the Eastern Conference. A string of poor performances resulted in Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, Messi’s previous coach at national level and Barcelona, replacing Phil Neville.

However, for a club founded as recently as 2018, Inter Miami face an uphill task to improve their domestic league performances though they have managed to reach the semi-finals of the US Cup against league-leaders FC Cincinnati.

Gillett believes Messi’s short-term goal is to lift the US Cup, while at the club level, the expectation will be to “finish in a much better position next season and to stimulate fans to invest in season tickets and/or in broadcast subscriptions”.

In terms of the league ambitions, the hope is for Messi to have “the Pele effect” - inspiring people to watch and participate in football, to fill stadia at home and away games, generate broadcast media engagement domestically and overseas, says Gillett.

Historically in the US, soccer has played second-fiddle to the popularity of ‘American football’, basketball, baseball and hockey, pointing to the challenges Messi faces amid comparisons between his, Pele’s and Beckham’s US move - arguably towards the end of their careers.

However, Gillet notes different eras and contexts. Brazilian football-idol Pele's participation in North American Soccer League (NASL) in the late 1970s increased the visibility of soccer during his time at the New York Cosmos while his deal with the NASL and the NY Cosmos included aspects like media rights and recording contracts, going beyond simply playing football.

“This was probably pioneering for its time and was a very US-centric, corporate approach, remember his club NY Cosmos was owned by Warners. This meant that Pele was an icon with an international, cultural, as well as show-business appeal. He had box-office appeal and helped to fill stadiums wherever the Cosmos played, at home or away,” explains Gillet.

Messi has secured a special two-and-a-half-year deal, grossing $60 million per year base salary. He will earn additional revenues from the MLS-Apple exclusive broadcast and Adidas - his and the MLS' sponsor.

Reports also suggest Messi could receive a 35 percent stake in Inter Miami or the option to buy a US football franchise at a reduced cost.

Sustainability and speculation

Amid the ongoing drive to grow US soccer, history points to the challenges and pitfalls concerning the country's seminal league that began in the late 60s.

During the NASL, clubs sought to replicate or compete against each other for top talents like Dutch great Johan Cruyff and Brazilian football player Carlos Alberto Torres, who headed to North America. However, Gillet says this approach “skewed the finances of the league and was not financially sustainable”.

“Pele played his last competitive game at Soccerbowl '77, and after that, a Pele-less league found that it had over-speculated. A lot of players were, in fact, on very basic contracts, clubs found themselves on a precarious financial footing, and there was a players' strike in 1979. After a very exciting roller-coaster few years, the NASL folded in 1984, before the USA realised its ambition of hosting a FIFA World Cup,” he adds.

Today’s MLS was founded as part of the US’ successful bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup – which remains the most financially profitable tournament to date.

Although arguably, since the MLS’ inception in 1996, it has struggled to garner a global footprint, despite recruiting talents like Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Carlos Valderrama and Marco Etcheverry.

However, in 2007, the MLS announced the monumental signing of Beckham, who Gillet suggests was expected “to be an ambassador with strong appeal, to generate publicity and positive feeling towards the soccer product.”

However, compared to Pele, the three-times FIFA World Cup winner and one of the most skilful players ever, Beckham never won any international trophy for England’s national team - being most famous for his long-range crosses and passing.

In the ensuing years, mega-stars flocked to the MLS like Thierry Henry and Gareth Bale. Zlatan Ibrahimovic once described himself as a 'Ferrari among Fiats' due to what he perceived as low-level competition and quality around him.

Among its detractors, the MLS has also been maligned as a closed league without promotion or relegation that experience huge salary inequalities.

Each of the 29 teams can only register three 'marque' players who can earn significantly more than the others, whose salary is capped at a certain threshold.

Can MLS open up?

According to Gillett, the "big question" remains whether Messi's arrival could lead to an opening up of the league.

"It is possibly not financially sustainable for the league (or clubs) to do so. I believe that unlike, say, England, MLS has more power over players' contracts and club franchises," he says, drawing comparisons to the English Premier League, the oldest national football league system that evolved differently as private enterprises before the league formed.

Since Messi announced Inter Miami as his new home, interest and growth have been apparent, particularly in shirt sales. The club's following on Instagram has risen from one to over eight million followers, while ticket prices to see Inter Miami play live have skyrocketed.

Given Messi's global appeal and marketability, there is also talk regarding a club-level pan-American football competition.

However, Gillet is unsure whether there is sufficient capacity for balanced competition and for US Clubs to compete for honours against top Latin American sides. Although in business and marketing strategy terms, it seems the "obvious next step" could potentially attract more top players to the MLS.

As Messi gears up for the challenge of lifting Inter Miami’s poor performances, Gillet forecasts Messi’s MLS impact to be potentially between that of Pele and Beckham.

“He (Messi) is arguably at his commercial peak, and in marketing terms could be considered to be a 'cash cow,'” he says, referencing Barcelona’s inability to sign him due to deep financial issues.

“The MLS, a growing league, could very much benefit now from such a 'marquee-signing' to generate momentum of publicity and to cement its credibility in terms of football quality.”