There is a special coincidence that when entering the twilight of their careers, both Pele and Messi chose America as their destination, even though football is not the most popular sport here.

In 1975, Pele went to America to play football for the New York Cosmos at the age of 34 when he already had 3 World Cup championships in hand (1958, 1962 and 1970). His presence here made Americans’ interest in football skyrocket. The North American Championship (NASL) at that time always welcomed an average audience of 25,000 people per match, an unimaginable number in a country where people only knew basketball, rugby or tennis.

48 years later, at the invitation of Mr. David Beckham, former England player and currently co-President of Inter Miami Club playing in the American Professional Soccer League (MLS), Messi landed in the United States right after becoming champion. won the 2022 World Cup, the only missing title in his career.

Unlike Pele, many people believe that it will be difficult for Messi to succeed in the US and bring freshness to this tournament because he is about to enter retirement age (35 years old). But despite everything, Messi still brings unimaginable things to American football.

According to online ticket sales portal StubHub, tickets to see Inter Miami Club in the MLS 2024 season this February have increased 150 times compared to the same time last year and are currently selling better than the team with the second highest revenue, LA Galaxy. 35% and double the revenue of the third team, New England Revolution. Ticket sales on StubHub for the entire MLS tournament this year also increased 7 times compared to the same time last year.

Inter Miami’s match with the best-selling tickets was the away match against LA Galaxy on February 26 in the MLS tournament, with ticket prices ranging from 250 USD (more than 6.1 million VND) to 7,820 USD (more than 191 million VND). copper). Among them, a fan spent up to 790,000 USD (more than 19 billion VND) to buy tickets to watch Messi and his teammates play, setting a record for the most expensive ticket price in world football history.

And yet, in half of the 2023 season when he came to Inter Miami to play, Messi made a huge impact on the growth of the MLS tournament. Ticket sales increased, sponsorship money increased, and the number of registrations to watch the MLS tournament on television also skyrocketed. Specifically, revenue from television subscription income increased by 25%, match day sponsorship revenue and club sponsorship revenue increased by 15%, sponsorship revenue from the Canadian region increased by 45%, revenue from tournament-related consumer goods also increased by 45%.

In 2022, Inter Miami will achieve revenue of about 56 million USD. But from 2023, Messi will help Inter Miami from a team valued at about 600 million USD, to enter the “$1 billion club group” with a value of up to 1.03 billion USD (up 72%) since the beginning of the year. 2024.

All thanks to the Messi effect!

A recent poll by SSRS shows that Messi is the most popular and popular athlete in the United States, surpassing even famous names in American sports such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods or Kobe Bryant…

Both are world champions, both came to America in their twilight years, but both Pele and Messi have been doing unimaginable things for American football.