The Lionel Messi effect – Inter Miami ticket prices and social media following skyrocket as football icon confirms move
Inter Miami are already benefiting from Lionel Messi before he's even kicked a ball for them.
The football icon confirmed his intention to sign for David Beckham's Major League Soccer club on Wednesday, turning down Barcelona and a move to Saudi Arabia simultaneously.
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At the start of the month, Paris Saint-Germain manager Christophe Galtier confirmed the 2022 World Cup winner would leave Les Parisiens this summer at the end of his contract.
Unsurprisingly, Messi was met with a range of options as he picked where to spend the next chapter of his career.
But it's a move to the Sunshine State that has appealed to him the most.
talkSPORT exclusively reported the club's desire to bring Messi to America in November, and now that looks set to become a reality.
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But even though Messi's deal isn't yet signed, sealed and delivered, the MLS outfit are already reaping the rewards of having a super star associated with their club.
They're not the only club across the pond to be profiting from it, either.
Ticket Prices
Messi confirming he wanted to join Inter Miami had an immediate impact on the costs of a match ticket.
Messi's potential debut game against Cruz Azul on July 21 saw the cheapest tickets jump from $29 (£23) to $329 (£262), as per .
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Meanwhile the game against New York Red Bulls in August has seen the cheapest ticket go from $30 (£24) to $401 (£320) and the tie versus Los Angeles FC is now $422 (£336) after being $81 (£65) originally.
According to , the club has seen a 1000 per cent increase in ticket prices overall in the hours after the Messi news broke.
The club's average home game ticket price jumping from $152 (£121) at the start of the season to $935 (£745), a 515 per cent rise.
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Crowd Increase
Fans haven't been deterred by the price increase, though, with Messi's apparent debut versus Cruz Azul on July 21 selling out, with tickets being snapped up in minutes. There's even to a venue larger than 18,000.
The surge in interest from the public has been felt throughout the MLS, too.
Atlanta United will open the stadium to its full capacity for Messi's arrival in November.
The Mercedes Benz Stadium normally attracts 50,000 fans for MLS fixtures. However the crowd is expected to spike to a 70,000 sell-out when the Argentine plays there.
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Social Media Followers
Inter Milan's increase in support has translated online, too.
After Messi's announcement, the club's Instagram following took a huge jump from having one million followers to a whopping 5.4million at the time of writing, and it's rising.
Their Twitter account also saw a big increase, jumping from 207.5k to 422.2k, with their Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube also seeing a rise in their followers.
According to , Inter Miami gained over a million followers on social media within 10 minutes after Messi's announcement, too.
Given Messi has 469million Insta followers, Inter Milan's following count may well get close to that by the time he's actually playing for them.
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