Lionel Messi shocked the world of soccer when he announced that he was going to join David Beckham-owned Inter Miami. US Fans and fans in general were quick to buy the Inter Miami kit with Messi written on the back. Even fans of other clubs went to buy the kit to celebrate the arrival of undoubtedly one of the greatest ever players.
Recently the MLS official website posted a list of the top-selling shirts in the League and it was of no surprise who was on top. NY Times also made a full report about how the transfer of Lionel Messi to Inter Miami broke all boundaries as half a million shirts were ordered shortly after the transfer was complete.
Shortly after Messi completed his transfer to Inter Miami, over half a million orders arrived for Messi & Inter Miami shirts.
As per @nytimes, no player in the history of sports has sold more shirts than Messi in the first 24 hours after completing a transfer. 👚🌟 pic.twitter.com/FgT1Yh4TMd
— 𝐀𝐅𝐂 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐗 💎 (@TheEuropeanLad) October 25, 2023
The value generated by this was immense and no other player in the history of the sport has ever sold more shirts than Messi within the first 24 hours of a transfer.
One problem with this was that fans were no longer interested in buying Inter Miami’s last kits so the marketing team came up with a brilliant plan and started releasing old kits with ‘Messi 10’ written on the back.
The trick worked like a charm and Inter Miami was able to sell almost all of their former unsold kits too. The shirt sales alone for the club after the Messi saga have generated millions of dollars and are presumed to be more than the shirt sales Al Nassr had for Ronaldo which was around $400 million.
Inter Miami’s growth after Lionel Messi joined them
All that was known about Inter Miami was that it was a new MLS club partly owned by David Beckham. But after Lionel Messi stepped foot in the club, fan engagement went through the roof.
Inter Miami before Lionel Messi 🆚 the end of the season 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/TEIrxL8Am9
— OneFootball (@OneFootball) October 22, 2023
They now have 15.3 million followers currently on Instagram from their previous 1.1 million followers which was before Messi joined the club. They currently have more followers than the legendary Seria A club Inter Milan. Not only that there was an increase in followers across all other social media platforms as well.
There was a huge increase in ticket and kit prices and despite that stadiums went sold out. Back in 2022, Inter Miami’s net revenue was about $56 million and currently it is reported to be around $600 million which just goes on to show how much of a financial success the club has enjoyed after Messi’s arrival.
🇦🇷 Lionel Messi for Inter Miami debut season:
👕 14 Games
🏅 8 Wins
⚽️ 11 Goals
🎯 5 Assists
🏆 Leagues Cup
🥅 3 Freekick Goals
⭐️ 11 Man Of The Match Awards
✅ Inter Miami’s Top Scorer This Season
✅ Top Scorer Of Leagues Cup 2023GOAT ! 🐐👏🏽 pic.twitter.com/2U6WIr2nlR
— SK10 𓃵 (@SK10_Football) October 22, 2023
Not only from the sales point of view, but Messi also took Inter Miami to the finals of two competitions and single-handedly won the Leagues Cup which is the first-ever trophy in the club’s history. Inter Miami were also dead last in their conference table before Messi made the move.
A late push to the playoffs was getting started but a sudden injury to their star meant that the season ended early for Inter Miami.
Though it is unknown how long Lionel Messi is going to be a part of the team, it is sure that the arrival of the Argentine has changed the whole landscape of the club.