The Chicago Fire are looking at between $7 and $10 million in revenue for their home game against Lionel Messi. It's more revenue than every other 2023 Fire home game combined. Messi's MLS move means more money for 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚, PaulTenorio writes.
arrived to speak to the media with a pair of pink and black Beats by Dre headphones on top of his head. They were a gift to teammates, he said, from Messi.
“Jorge is spending a tremendous amount of money, to have Apple and Eddy jump in, this only happens when you have five or six people that are willing to take economic risk,” said former AEG executive Tim Leiweke, who helped put together the deal that brought Beckham to MLS in 2007. “The league and Don Garber have been through this and Don is smarter about this than anybody in the world.
“When we look at athletes active on social, by carrying sponsors with them, jerseys sponsors, arena sponsors, there is an incredible amount of value in that and that value attaches itself to Inter Miami and their sponsors,” said Daniel Kirschner, the CEO of Greenfly, a platform used by over 500 sports organizations to optimize digital content. “Inter Miami’s reach and impact, the number of people seeing those logos, has expanded exponentially.
AB InBev struck a partnership deal with Messi in 2020, winning an award for an advertising campaign by sending bottles of Budweiser to the goalkeepers on whom Messi has scored goals. Octagon works with AB InBev, and Aframe said Messi’s move to North America brings an entirely different value proposition to companies’ partnership with the Argentine.
The Messi boost can be seen simply by looking at Inter Miami’s social media growth, from just less than 1 million Instagram followers before he announced to 12.7 million today . But there is no guarantee on how long that expanded audience will stick around.The task the league and teams now face is how to turn these touchpoints with Messi into fans that stay after he’s gone.
This Messi game now presents a similar marquee event to pull in fans who otherwise haven’t engaged with the Fire. If Chicago can put on a show for the 30,000-plus who purchased tickets specifically to see Messi, perhaps they can compel them to return.