Messi’s move to Inter Miami generates huge reaction from fans

Inter’s Instagram account has increased fivefold and ticket sales have quadrupled since the World Cup champions revealed they will join the Major League Soccer club.

Lionel Messi’s imminent deal with Inter Miami has sparked excitement among fans of the Argentine soccer star, generating huge numbers on social media and skyrocketing ticket sales.

While Messi has yet to put pen to paper, Inter Miami’s following on Instagram has quintupled since world cup winner revealed on Wednesday that he would head to the Major League Soccer club following his departure from France’s Paris Saint-Germain.

The Inter account had about 900,000 followers before Wednesday. Less than 24 hours after the news broke, that number had reached 5.7 million followers.

She now has over 7.5 million followers across all social platforms and added over five million new followers on the day of the announcement.

Ticketing technology company Logitix analyzed league-wide ticket demand in the 24 hours after Messi’s announcement and found that four times as many tickets were sold on the secondary market for Inter Miami matches compared to all the 169-day sales period prior to that. .

The average price for Inter Miami home games increased from $31 to $152, while away games increased from $94 to $207, the company found.

The former Barcelona great dashed hopes of a reunion with the Spanish club where he thrived for nearly two decades before leaving to join PSG.

Game recognizes Game. 🏀🤝⚽ pic.twitter.com/gVqT8PGIrU

— All about InterMiami ✍️ (@InterMiamiXtra) June 9, 2023

Barcelona was in debt when Messi left in 2021, and was forced to wait in hopes of renewing his contract. The Argentine apparently wanted to return but he “didn’t want to be in the same situation again,” he told Spanish media.

He added that he wanted to “get out of the spotlight a bit” and focus more on his family after a “difficult time” with Paris Saint-Germain, but made it clear that he would have returned to Barcelona if the numbers had worked.

The 35-year-old chose Inter Miami despite reportedly having a much more lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia.

Messi is unlikely to make his Inter Miami debut before the end of July.