As the 2024 Major League Soccer season kicks off on Wednesday night, all eyes are looking at Lionel Messi and his first full season with Inter Miami.
Lionel Messi will take on Real Salt Lake on the road to begin the year, and though the general consensus believe Messi is good for the MLS, there is one who isn’t a big fan.
Don Garber, the league’s commissioner, thinks the attention on Messi is too much, especially from the media.
“It’s easy and somewhat lazy for reporters to just write about Messi — it’s like writing about Taylor Swift,” he told Sports Business Journal. “There’s so much more here that I think people need to recognize.”
Garber’s comments come at a time when intense focus is on the MLS, especially considering their deal with Apple, a 10-year, $2.5 billion partnership that has MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
One of the main reasons for Apple’s investment is the arrival of Messi and his other famous teammates, including Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.
They are expected to be one of the best teams in MLS this season after winning the 2023 Leagues Cup on Aug. 19 last year.
But it’s also not wrong to see a league commissioner wanting widespread coverage of the other great players and teams around the league.
Garber’s comparison of Messi to Swift, however, is an interesting one. He’s obviously referencing how the NFL was covered this past season with Swift dating Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce on their path to another Super Bowl victory.
Sure, like Swift, Messi is one of the most recognizable faces across the globe, and anything involving him will make a headline.
But for soccer, Messi is king and coverage of one of the best players to ever lace up a pair of boots is a necessity for the millions of soccer fans that will be tuning in to see him all season long with Inter Miami
DID YOU KNOW? ” Ladik added on the Lionel Messi effect “
Ladik added on the Lionel Messi effect: “It didn’t seem like those subscription numbers were going all that well. Then Messi joining and that unbelievable run they had in the [Leagues] Cup, that changed the entire narrative of soccer in the United States, and beyond the United States. Everything about that conversation is about one of the world’s most recognisable people at the top of their game, who is actually on the field.”
He went on to say of Messi leaving more of a legacy than the Manchester United and England legend, that is now one of the co-owners at Inter Miami, who made his own move to America with the LA Galaxy in 2007: “There’s certainly no question that David Beckham was an inflection (point) in the history of MLS, but it didn’t sustain itself. I have a feeling that they learned their lesson that time around, and the Messi effect this time will sustain itself.”
