As Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami became a reality, ticket prices skyrocketed.
“Saudi Arabia has suffered a bitter defeat in its effort to sign Lionel Messi, one of the greatest players in soccer history. Messi is headed to Inter Miami, the American Major League Soccer (MLS) team co-founded by Beckham.”
Initially, Messi strongly pushed for a move to Barcelona. Messi’s father and agent, Jorge Messi, even held talks with president Juan Laporta. However, there was a real problem. Barcelona’s financial problems stood in the way.
As Jorge Messi himself has said, there are a number of issues that are preventing a deal from happening anytime soon. Due to Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, Barcelona would have to sell a player in order to sign Messi. In the end, it was decided that Barcelona would not be able to sign Messi due to financial issues.
The Saudis were also actively preparing to sign Messi. Al Nasr had already started a new era by signing Cristiano Ronaldo in January. The league is expanding this summer, bringing in superstars like Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante. They even made an offer to Messi. According to global media outlet Goal.com, Al Hilal has reportedly set aside a whopping 700 billion won per year.
But Messi chose the United States. “I decided to leave Europe,” Messi told Spain’s Mundo Deportivo on July 7. In Europe, it was all about Barcelona, so I didn’t even think about offers from other clubs. It’s time to play soccer in a different way in MLS and enjoy my daily life.”
According to the New York Times, “It’s not 토토사이트 unheard of for a sportswear company to help pay a soccer player’s transfer fee. But the iPhone maker’s contribution is unusual. Messi’s arrival in the MLS could bolster subscriptions to Apple TV+ streaming, which paid $2.5 billion (about $3.24 trillion) for the rights to stream league games for two years.”
Apple also revealed plans to produce a documentary about Messi. The company is also scrambling to capitalize on the opportunity, with CNN reporting that “Apple recently lowered its soccer subscription price from $99 to $49 for the remainder of the season.”
The mesh effect is already being felt. “Ticket prices have soared nearly 1000% at some games,” CNN reported. The average ticket price is now $1,248 (about 1.6 million won). That’s a 922% increase from $120.”