FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Outside the front door of Argentino Las Olas, a seven-year-old restaurant serving empanadas and other Argentine dishes, there is a large poster of Lionel Messi clapping the World Cup.
“Welcome Captain,” it reads. Welcome Captain.
The interior walls are almost entirely covered with paintings and posters honoring the nation from which the restaurant is inspired. Football memories are everywhere and Messi's presence takes on great importance.
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When Messi led his country to its first World Cup triumph since 1986, Argentino Las Olas was packed. The correlation between the success of Argentina and the success of Argentine restaurants was clear as day. However, the momentum that came with participating in the World Cup was expected to wane once the enthusiasm died down. And in most places that was the case.
In Fort Lauderdale it would have been too. Except, of course, Messi moved to town, and Argentino Las Olas has become a gathering place to watch him play for Inter Miami CF, which plays its home games 6.5 miles up the road. Owners expect a busy day on Wednesday when Miami hosts Real Salt Lake (8:10 p.m. ET, Apple TV+, MLS Season Pass) in the opening match of the Major League Soccer season.
Messi's economy is far-reaching and unquantifiable. His appeal is the only reason Inter Miami (the worst team in MLS before Messi's arrival last season) was encouraged to hit the road for a preseason world tour that went from El Salvador to Dallas, to Saudi Arabia, to Hong Kong and finally Japan before returning home to close the slate with a friendly against Messi's boyhood club Newell's Old Boys last week to prepare for the season.
It was an ambitious lineup for which Miami surely received good compensation, but which was also designed to serve as a marketing vehicle, for Inter Miami and the MLS. From that point of view, the tour fell short, as Messi's lack of availability and Inter Miami's lackluster performances tarnished what was expected to function as something more festive.
On February 4, Messi did not participate in the Miami match against the Hong Kong XI, which provoked a cascade of boos and public criticism from the local government to the event's organizer, Tatler own “extreme disappointment regarding the non-participation of Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez.”
The backlash led to the cancellation of the Nigeria-Argentina friendly scheduled for March in China, and on Monday, two weeks after the match, Messi still felt compelled to release a video explaining in more detail his reasons for not playing in the exhibition.
“I've read and heard a lot of things that were said after the game in Hong Kong,” he said. “I wanted to record this video to give you the real version so that no one has to continue reading false stories.”
He went on to explain that the reason for his absence was a swollen adductor, and concern about injuring it further, and not any number of political theories that might have circulated online.
For MLS, the Miami tour was far from ideal. But it will also have very little impact at home.
“I think when you have such a legendary player and he's still competing, introducing him to the world is a very good thing for a club, Inter Miami,” MLS commissioner Don Garber told ESPN. “Is good for [MLS]but obviously it doesn't always work as perfectly as I would like.
“But all in all, I think it was an important experience for everyone. I'm sure there will be some things they will learn and maybe do differently in the years to come. But I certainly hope Inter Miami goes on a tour with Mess and the rest of the club in the coming years, because I think it is great exposure for the club and great exposure for the league.
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Garber noted that in the United States the script is often flipped. It's the big foreign clubs that have sought exposure in the U.S. as they prepare for their regular seasons, but there's also often a broad understanding that those preseason exhibitions won't always include those who appeared in marketing campaigns.
“Players get hurt. Players have to rest,” Garber said. “Everyone must remember that these are preseason tours, not regular season games or official competitions. I think the bottom line is that international tours are part of the dynamic of professional football. It has been for many years, and there is no shortage of international clubs that They come here and play.
“Not every game is perfect and not every experience is everything you'd like it to be.”
After years on the road with Barcelona, a world tour wasn't out of the ordinary for Sergio Busquets either. He understands the merits, but at the MLS media availability last month, he also made clear that the priority should be using those games to prepare for the season.
“For us, it's about the balance of the sporting aspect and also the growth of this club and the revenue and profits on the commercial aspect,” he said. “So we understand it very well. But we will also compete against great teams that will prepare us to be at a very high level before the season.
“And when schedule changes and long trips come, we have to prepare well. The most important thing is to be physically prepared for the season.”
During his press conference on Tuesday, Inter Miami coach Tata Martino said Messi, Busquets, Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba are fit for the first match.
As of Tuesday night, the ticket price through StubHub, the ticket resale marketplace, was $68, a relatively low price considering the incredible demand for Inter Miami tickets. The average price of a ticket to see Inter Miami this year, home or away, is $275.
Messi's presence is a huge factor for increased demand across the league, but ahead of the season, ticket sales for all MLS teams, even those not playing Miami, have increased, he told ESPN. StubHub spokesperson Adam Budelli. League-wide ticket sales increased approximately sevenfold year over year.
“The demand [to see Messi] “is in line with Aaron Judge just a couple of years ago when the Yankees were going for the home run record, or last year when LeBron James was going for the all-time NBA scoring record,” Budelli said.
After StubHub sold MLS tickets to buyers in nine countries last year, this year that number has increased to 44. For context, StubHub sold tickets for Major League Baseball games to buyers in 45 countries last season. The 25 most in-demand MLS games on StubHub are Miami games, for which demand has grown 150-fold, Budelli said.
