With the MLS Regular Season over, has Messi joining Inter Miami been a success?

Messi was lured to the MLS instead of the Saudi Pro League, where he could have made Millions a week.

Hopefully, a biography later in life will shed some light on why because money wasn’t the motivating factor.

That said, he’s being paid by multiple entities to play in the MLS; there is Inter Miami, where he will get his base wage plus some stock in the club if reports are to be believed.

He probably gets a cut from Adidas & Apple due to their recent long-term deals with the MLS. You can’t walk 6 feet at a soccer game without seeing a Messi Shirt!

He has enough in the bank, so perhaps adding to it is not as important as the quality of life for him and his family, which he will get in the US.

The MLS has benefited from having him there, but if part of the plan was to get him and the rest would follow, that didn’t happen. The lure of oil money is far more significant for most, so the long-term effects may not be as sound as the MLS hoped.

In a league that doesnt yet regularly sell out Stadia on match days, every other team owner would have been happy with the arrival of Messi, as they have a game in which they can hike prices and still sell out.

When you buy a ticket for a game in the US through the club, they have your details, and so, in the lead-up to a Messi game, I would receive emails urging me to get my ticket now before it sold out.

For me, it meant that when I planned my trips to the US to watch the MLS, I would avoid a Messi fixture, in the same vain that I would check the Taylor Swift tour itinerary to make sure I was not paying $500 a night for a hotel room to watch the MLS in the same city she was playing.

Although, as I always plan to do a doubleheader in Atlanta, MLS followed by NFL in September, the Atlanta United game turned out to be against Inter Miami, and the ticket prices reflected this.

As I had missed the boat when the tickets first went on sale, I decided to wait till the game day to pick one up as I gambled on there only being so many Messi fans, and the Mercedes Benz Stadium is pretty big, so those who bought tickets to sell on, might not get the payday they thought.

I woke to the news that Messi would not be playing, and the ticket prices went through the floor; more by luck than judgment, I was right to hold off.

Messi has been good for the MLS, but they must attract more “Marque” players to keep it going, which will be difficult when up against the Saudi Pro League.