The most popular athlete in the world made a huge announcement last week, and it has changed the complexion of a team and a league forever. Lionel Messi announced Wednesday that he has made his choice on where he will play in the near future, and it was Inter Miami CF that he selected.
Inter Miami Gains 7 Million Followers After Messi Signing
Lionel Messi is already having a HUGE impact on Inter Miami:
• 6M new Instagram followers
• 4,500% increase in merch sales
• 3rd best-selling team on Fanatics
• 1,200% jump in ticket pricesAnd they’ll probably bring in 2-3x more revenue this year alone.
That’s crazy 🤯 pic.twitter.com/lA63Sg5CbT
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 11, 2023
It is huge news for the team and American soccer in general. MLS has grown in years past and has become a more popular product in the states, and the arrival of Messi is going to attract the eyes of sports fans from all over the globe. There will be increased interest in soccer as a whole, all thanks to the arrival of one man.
The impact that Messi has already had on Inter Miami is immense. It just took minutes, but the ticket prices for the team’s opening game shot up from $29 to $475 when the news was announced. Overall, the team saw ticket prices jump 1,200%.
They’ve got the merchandising numbers to prove that Messi is worth the fuss. Miami has already seen a sharp increase in merchandise sales, coming in at a whopping plus-4,500%. The team has become the third-best selling team on Fanatics.
Messi Has Impact On Tickets And Merchandise Sales
The hype is real on social media as well. When last week began, Inter Miami had an Instagram following of roughly 900,000. Within 6 hours of Messi making an announcement on his future, that number shot all the way up to 3.2 and has only been increasing since. As of Sunday afternoon, Inter’s account was sitting at 7.7 million followers, an increase of nearly 7 million in just over half of a week’s time.
The social media influence of Messi coming to Miami?
Inter Miami has stormed past all other South Florida pro sports teams in Instagram followers (7.7M), ahead of Heat (6.5M), Dolphins (1.5M), Marlins (654K), Panthers (386K). I’m told Inter was at 1M day of announcement.
— David Furones (@DavidFurones_) June 11, 2023
How do those numbers compare with the other teams from South Florida? The Heat were far and away the most popular team previously, as they have 6.5 million followers themselves. Inter leaves the rest of Miami’s teams in the dust. The Dolphins have 1.5 million followers, while the Marlins and Panthers combine to have just over one million.
There was a post made by the account last week that showed the current team taking a group photo on the field prior to a game. The picture received just under 7,000 likes. A couple of days after the Messi signing, Inter posted a similar photo of the current team (sans Messi), and the post garnered over 800,000 likes and counting.
The Lionel Messi effect is real.
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