Messi’s contract with Inter Miami is the start of an empire

It’s the most controversial transfer decision this summer: Seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi prefers a stay at Inter Miami in the US to a return to his second home in Barcelona or the hundreds of million petrodollars in Saudi Arabia. It raises many eyebrows that perhaps the greatest footballer of all time is joining the current Eastern Conference latest issue of MLS. Nevertheless, David Beckham’s club manages to seduce the 36-year-old Argentine world champion to sign a contract in Miami.

And what kind of contract: $150 million mostly in salary and signing fees (spread over 2.5 years) plus hefty percentages from MLS’s long-running mega-deals with Adidas and Apple TV. No athlete in the world, not even in the United States, has such a large contract.

In Florida, where the language is usually Spanish, everything has successfully come out of the closet to bring Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini to Major League Soccer. The sports and football system in the United States cannot be compared to that of the rest of the world, the biggest example being the play-off system where the champion comes from. Where a football club normally has to fend for itself, MLS is, according to ancient American sports practice, a centrally controlled organization, with clubs acting as franchises and club owners as shareholders.

For this reason, all teams have the same clothing sponsor, Adidas. Let it be the mark of the kicks Messi has had on his feet all his life as a footballer. In addition, the monopoly on exclusive TV rights, the agreement with Apple TV, is a unique asset of MLS.

“Messi-mania” as the perfect catalyst for customer acquisition
By insuring the football veteran with tons of money for a long time, the MLS is “slicensing”: sharing the “licensing profits” with the athlete in question, so that the “Messi” cuts both ways . The viewer gets more for their money and MLS ensures customer acquisition.

At a time when there are so many competitive sports media providers, customer acquisition is a hot topic. With the arrival of Messi, who himself has 478 million followers in third place with the most followers on Instagram, Inter Miami’s Instagram channel has also exploded. Before the announcement of the change, the club still had 1 million subscribers, which increased fivefold after the big news.

Messi has now arrived in Florida after his vacation and the circus will only really unleash when he is presented by Inter Miami on Sunday July 16 at their very own ‘DRV PNK Stadium’. The new MLS star is set to make his debut on July 21 against Cruz Azul in the Coupe des Ligues. The next games of Inter Miami are sold out, of course because of the “Messi-mania”.