Lionel Messi, the reigning World Cup champion and Golden Ball winner — and arguably the greatest soccer player of all time — will play his first game for Inter Miami on Friday against Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup (8 PM ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+, Univision).
After much fanfare, the day is almost here. What can we expect from Messi and what does his arrival mean for the future of MLS?
Friday’s game
If you are planning on tuning into Apple TV this Friday and are expecting to see Messi in the starting eleven, you will probably be disappointed. Messi will almost certainly start on the bench, given that he is just back from vacation after his European season concluded. However, the expectation is that he will have some role in the second half.
In addition, Inter Miami are currently the worst team in MLS, sitting bottom of the league with just 18 points and a -14 goal differential after 22 games. Messi will undoubtedly shine on the field, but how far he can drag his teammates up with him remains to be seen. Inter Miami’s other new summer roster additions — some announced, such as Sergio Busquets, and some still only rumored, such as Luis Suárez — could also help Inter Miami rise in the standings on the back end of the season.
How to watch Messi’s Miami debut
When: Friday, July 21 at 8 PM ET
How: English-language coverage streams exclusively on Apple TV+ via the MLS Season Pass subscription. Apple TV+ MLS Season Pass can be purchased here ($14.99/month or $49 for the rest of the season for non-Apple TV+ subscribers and $12.99/month or $39 for the rest of the season for subscribers).
Spanish-language coverage airs on Univision, which can be watched through an antenna or cable subscription, or streamed through Fubo. If you purchase a subscription to the above services, this website may receive a commission.
Messi’s impact on MLS
Before Messi, MLS could be divided into two eras, pre-David Beckham and post his 2007 arrival. Messi could affect MLS in the exact same way. Without even playing a single game, ticket prices — both home and away — have risen dramatically, with some selling for as much as $110,000. Inter Miami’s Instagram has passed 10 million followers, more than every single U.S. sports franchise apart from the NBA’s Lakers, Warriors, and Cavaliers. In early June, the team had just one million. Trying to buy his jersey? You won’t be able to receive it until October. Simply put, Messi moves the needle unlike any other athlete in the world.
With the world’s most famous athlete on board, the question then moves to how MLS can use it as rocket fuel for growth. Arguably, it has the best partner it could ask for in Apple, who broadcast Messi’s official signing announcement for free worldwide — a stream that amassed 3.5 billion views according to Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham — in addition to broadcasting Messi’s first training session on Tuesday, with more than 200 media members in attendance. Every Inter Miami game will have 18 cameras, including a Skycam, drone, steadicam and four slow-motion cameras. With Apple’s global reach, fans across the world will tune into MLS for the first time – which has MLS even rethinking its kickoff times to potentially enable better timeslots for Messi fanatics in other countries to tune in. For a league that has continually touted its goal of becoming a “league of choice” and with the US hosting the Copa America in 2024, the newly expanded Club World Cup in 2025, and the World Cup in 2026, Apple’s storytelling ability combined with Messi’s massive gravitational pull should be able to launch the league into a new stratosphere of popularity and appeal.
Messi’s potential legacy
Sixteen years ago, David Beckham’s signing led to the creation of the Designated Player rule in MLS, which helped start to turn the then 13-team league into the soon-to-be 30 team league with a $2.5 billion streaming deal. How will the league change with Messi in the fold?
There has already been an MLS board of governors meeting in the wake of Messi’s arrival that included a discussion on potentially massive changes to the MLS roster rules. MLS commissioner Don Garber was quoted in The Athletic as acknowledging MLS is looking “at ways to simplify the rules” and become more transparent to help “broaden our audience.” With Messi’s signing already attracting more names to the league, such as Busquets, Suárez, and Jordi Alba, it makes a lot of sense to open up the spending capabilities for teams that wish to pay for those caliber of players, in addition to making the league easier to follow for newer fans. Also in the same article, Garber mentioned that he “expected” teams with artificial turf to install a temporary grass field on top to ensure Messi will not miss those road games – a huge development if followed through on, given the numerous complaints in the past over MLS’s usage of turf.
With a contract in place through 2025, Messi’s immediate future is officially locked in. What happens next will dramatically shape the next 16 years of MLS, just as Beckham did before. With Apple on board and a much more stable, successful, and popular league than in 2007, the future of American soccer has never looked brighter.
