In less than a year, Lionel Messi turned Inter Miami around both on and off the field. While his arrival immediately brought the team success, it also helped the MLS side increase in popularity and revenue.
In fact, Inter Miami Chief Business Officer Xavier Asensi recently revealed the club’s projected income for 2024 will be much higher than what they used to budget before Leo.
“We have gone from having budgeted some 60-odd million dollars to end up billing some 125-130 million…. To go on to turnover this year, I expect 200 million dollars or more,” Asensi told Agencia EFE.
Messi the real reason behind Inter Miami’s revenue surge
The Spaniard worked for 11 years at Barcelona before landing in South Florida in 2021. Since then, Inter Miami have tripled revenues and went on to land the likes of Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Luis Suarez, which saw Asensi win Doug Hamilton Executive of the Year at the 2023 MLS end-of-year awards.
In regard to Inter Miami’s projected turnover for this year, Asensi explained that while the ability to make a global tour at the beginning of the year helps, the real factor behind the spike in income is Messi.
“There are several factors here, one of them is that Futbol Club Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, Juventus, all these teams, they can do the tours when they can all do the tours. Yes it is true that we can tour when nobody at that level can tour, which is in January or February. But this, again, is Leo,” Asensi said.
“Obviously we try to pull behind him, in this sense, and adapt the structure so that this can happen. But 80% of zero is zero. If Leo were not here, what we are talking about would not exist.“
Messi’s impact at Inter Miami
Only a few months after his arrival in July 2023, MLS announced Messi led the league in top-selling shirts by the end of the year. Before that, the Argentine star’s presence had already sparked a surge of subscriptions to MLS Pass on Apple TV.
On top of that, ticket prices for Inter Miami games go through the roof, both at Chase Stadium or on the road. On the contrary, the demand for seats plummets when fans know in advance Messi won’t play.
But of course, the 8x Ballon d’Or winner has also been impactful for Inter Miami on the playing field with 23 goals and 16 assists in 25 appearances so far. In his first tournament, Leo led the club to the 2023 Leagues Cup title.
