Soccer legend Lionel Messi made history on Friday when he stepped on the pitch for the first time as a member of Inter Miami, marking the start of a new and intriguing chapter in the Argentine’s 20-year career.
His move from Europe, the epicenter of club soccer, to south Florida, a relative backwater for the most popular and watched sport in the world, has been heralded as a major coup for the U.S. No doubt that’s true, but Latin America may be a big winner as well.
Expectations couldn’t be higher for Major League Soccer, or MLS as the U.S. and Canadian men’s professional league is known. The arrival of one of, if not the best soccer player in history has already paid dividends for the sport in the U.S. Jorge Mas, the billionaire owner of Inter Miami, told Bloomberg News that Messi’s move to the U.S. is poised to generate millions of new subscribers for the Apple TV+ streaming service. Such expectations are why the Argentine was able to negotiate revenue sharing agreements and a future equity stake in the team. In the six weeks since Messi’s signing was announced, Inter Miami has seen its Instagram followers soar to more than 10 million, exceeding that of the National Basketball Association’s Chicago Bulls.