Lionel Messi’s arrival in the MLS was met with a lot of delighted fans. His arrival caused a spike in ticket prices. It didn’t matter which team you supported, everyone wanted to watch Messi play at any cost.
The 2022 World Cup-winning captain’s move to Inter Miami has indeed done a lot of good. Not only has it improved the dismal state of the team on the pitch, but it has also led to some world-record ticket sales. And now, the Argentinian talisman has done something heartwarming for a fan in return.
Lionel Messi helps MLS club’s fan to raise surgery cost
Amanda Libre, an MLS fan, was left heartily grateful to Lionel Messi for indirectly helping her raise the funds needed for the treatment of ACL and Meniscus. Although Messi did not spend a penny of his money on this treatment, the MLS fan attributed the goodwill to Lionel Messi, and here is why:
Ticket prices for Inter Miami matches have gone up significantly, but before the spike in prices, this MLS fan had rushed to purchase a few tickets with the hope to sell in order to raise some money for her surgery. The least that she sold was around $700, adequately covering the cost of her surgery. According to Mirror, “she needed to raise approximately $500 (ÂŁ392) to ensure that her insurance provider would cover the rest of the costs for her surgery.”
Amanda Libre, a NY Red Bulls season ticket holder will now be able to afford her surgery after selling her ticket for their game vs inter miami.
🗣️ Amanda: “Thank you Messi for paying for my anterior cruciate ligament surgery, I'm happy.”
🗣️ Amanda: “I have season tickets for… pic.twitter.com/W3TZd1x8Mh
— Barça Worldwide (@BarcaWorldwide) August 9, 2023
Amanda explained; “I have season tickets for Red Bull games, and I usually go to all of them, but I noticed as soon as they even started talking about [Lionel] Messi signing for Inter Miami, the tickets for the Miami game started to go up like crazy,”
She continued, “I’m just in the supporter’s section behind the goal, which is the cheapest ticket, and some of them are on sale for like $700, but I just wanted to sell it.
“I’m getting my surgery on August 18th, and so depending on how bad my meniscus is, I may be on crutches, so I probably can’t go to the game anyway. So I was like, ‘Oh, I can use the money to pay for my ACL surgery’ – so that will be nice!”
MLS ticket prices skyrocketed following Messi announcement
Messi’s announcement has yielded a positive turnaround for Inter Miami. Their overall outlook as a team has suddenly improved. Â Inter Miami was a sinking ship when Messi joined the club, but now, they have their eyes on the playoffs, and the team is fun to watch once again.Â
In addition to Lionel Messi’s transformative influence on the pitch, he has also improved the value of the team. Inter Miami has received an additional capital infusion of $75 million equity from Ares, an Alternative Investment Firm, following Lionel Messi’s signature for the club.Â
Since Messi’s signing, ticket prices on the secondary market have seen an astronomical increase of more than 1,000%. On the eve of Messi’s debut, the average ticket price for the game against Cruz Azul was $712, already much more than their ticket price for a normal game where Messi is not playing. But these prices further increased by 205% from the 4th to the 7th of June.
From July 17 to July 20, Inter Miami was Fanatics’ top-selling team across all sports. “That is unheard of for an MLS team,” said a source from Fanatics. Â
Jorge Mas confirmed on CNBC’s “Halftime Report” that “Jerseys are selling out at stores in minutes … which is why we’ve opened a pop-up store in the center of Miami.”
An online retailer also revealed to CNN they’d sold half a year’s worth of “Messi 10”-printed Inter Miami jerseys in just one day.
What do you think of the impact Lionel Messi has had in the MLS? Make sure to let us know in the comments section.
