Loons ride MLS popularity wave, crediting ‘Messi effect’

Minnesota United plays Seattle on Sunday in its first MLS home game since July 15.

How the league’s landscape has changed.

“There’s this guy in Florida who has done a little bit,” Loons veteran defender Zarek Valentin said.

In that time, MLS newcomer and global soccer superstar Lionel Messi has taken a remade Inter Miami CF team from last place in its regular season to an inaugural Leagues Cup trophy and a spot in next month’s U.S. Open Cup final.

Sales of Messi’s pink No. 10 Inter Miami jersey, Apple TV’s worldwide MLS Season Pass streaming service subscriptions and ticket prices — home and away — all have soared.

So, too, has the cultural impact on a league and country that hasn’t experienced such a sea change since the famous David Beckham signed with L.A. Galaxy in 2007.

This is bigger.

Inter Miami’s traveling show will visit Minnesota United and Allianz Field in 2024 or 2025. The Loons played at Miami last year, so Miami is due here next in MLS’ unbalanced schedule.

“Beckham was a cultural icon on and off the field,” Loons chief soccer officer Manny Lagos said. “Now you’re talking about arguably — but not debatable at all in my view — the greatest player of all time playing in your league, still in his prime, still hungry to play. There was a Beckham effect that was really important for our league, but this is different.

“This probably hasn’t happened since the late ’70s with the [New York] Cosmos and Pelé — and that was an amazing era of quality and unbelievable superstars.”

It also was fleeting.

Miami’s progress through Leagues Cup play — and the spectacular set-piece goals Messi scored — was reported on the national nightly network news. Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged in a recent earnings call that “it’s clearly early days” on a 10-year partnership his company signed with MLS last year, but “we’re exceeding our expectations in terms of subscribers.”

“It has been a long time coming to get soccer in the mainstream media in America,” Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair said. “It’s good for the league. Hopefully it continues to teams other than Miami as well.”

Messi, 36, has won the Ballon d’Or — soccer’s most prestigious individual award — a record seven times, including four consecutively starting in 2009. He has scored more than 800 career goals for club and country, including 10 in eight undefeated games before he was designated a substitute, not a starter, for Saturday ‘s game at New York Red Bulls.

Tickets on Friday went from just under $400 to more than $5000 on the secondary market.

Messi arrived in MLS last month on a contract through 2025 reportedly worth as much as $150 million when salary, signing bonus, a piece of the team and revenue-sharing agreements with Adidas and Apple all are counted.

His contract will end at age 38, just when the 2026 World Cup will come to Mexico, Canada and the United States. That’s just when MLS’ collective bargaining agreement with its players ends, too.

“The World Cup and what it does to spark growth will be like the Messi effect now, but potentially on steroids,” Lagos said. “It had a huge impact on the men’s and women’s games when it was here in 1994. … You can’t not be excited where soccer is going in this country.”

That 1994 World Cup gave birth to Major League Soccer two years later. Now 27 years later, billions of dollars have been spent on stadiums, players, second teams, youth academies, scouting and recruitment.

By the time the World Cup returns, Valentin predicts more international stars in their prime will come to MLS. And more MLS players — perhaps even the Loons’ Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Emanuel Reynoso — will continue to be sold on in the international market.

“There will be a monumental shift in the visibility of the league and the visibility of American soccer,” Valentin said.

Messi is playing his part to get MLS there with a joy that was contagious throughout this first, successful Leagues Cup.

“I’m not surprised he scored goals,” Loons coach Adrian Heath said. “He has scored 800 goals in his career. That’s nothing new. The energy he has brought, you can see it on his face. He’s really enjoying life here and that’s really shone through. … The eyes of the world have been on us, and I think we’ve shown a real good side to the league.”