Some of Messi’s detractors claimed that the Argentine star would come to MLS to play a couple of seasons and retire comfortably. And while it is true that it is a lower level league than the French league, where he came from, and definitely LaLiga, Messi came to compete, win titles and put Inter Miami on the map for international soccer, and incidentally break a couple of records.
Messi’s impact in MLS
What seemed like a simple media signing turned into one of the most influential moves in American sports history and the numbers back it up: The Herons went from having around one million followers to more than 14 million in a matter of weeks
The phenomenon was not limited to social networks. On the day of his debut, on July 21, 2023, the match between Inter Miami and Cruz Azul prompted more than 110,000 new subscriptions to the MLS Season Pass, demonstrating the enormous interest generated by watching the Argentine star in the U.S. league.
The record he shares with Michael Jordan
Success came a couple of years later. After winning the 2025 MLS Cup, Inter Miami celebrated the championship with an official visit to the White House, a common and controversial tradition for championship teams in professional leagues in the United States.
It was at that moment that Messi joined a select group of athletes who have visited the White House after becoming champions, a list that includes figures such as Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Serena Williams and LeBron James.
However, it is worth making a distinction, as the Chicago Bulls icon visited the presidential residence on five occasions. Four of them were after winning NBA championships, while another visit occurred in 2016, when then-President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest civilian honors in the United States.
In the case of Messi, his first visit came after winning the MLS with Inter Miami, consolidating his impact not only within soccer, but also in the sporting culture of the country.
Read the full article here
