Breaking Down the Messi Effect

In July, 37-year-old Argentine superstar Lionel Messi led his team to another victory at Copa América. After putting an end to Canada’s amazing run (no shame in losing to the best, right?), Messi captained his team through a tough match against Colombia, sadly subbing off in the 64th minute due to a non-contact right ankle injury. Long time fans witnessed two different stories about Messi. On the one hand, there’s the best football player in the world, a generational talent who showed up at Copa and set records for most Copa América games by any player, first Argentine player to play in seven Copas, and first player to participate in five Copa finals. But on the other hand, fans couldn’t help but feel like we were watching a man nearing the end of his time in the game. Yet Messi is still making an incredible impact on the game and everything it touches. So what is the Messi effect—and why does every kid want a Messi jersey?

The Other American Football

When Messi signed to Inter Miami FC in 2023, the club’s valuation passed the billion-dollar mark. Ticket prices more than doubled. Stadiums required expansion. Everyone you know owns a Messi jersey, but try to find one in the run up to a big tournament and you’re likely to be entirely out of luck.

Two decades ago, when David Beckham signed to LA Galaxy, there was definitely a sense that while there is a lot of money in US soccer, it was still a retirement league for stars who played in Europe. Now, while it’s true that Messi’s best days are behind him, there’s more a sense that there’s good talent in the US, and it’s reflected in both the players and audience.

Here’s a fact: MLS has the youngest fandom of any major American sports league. It’s also a highly diverse fandom, with 40% being people of colour and 30% are Hispanic or Latino. And this young, diverse fandom is spending a record amount of money and setting record attendance at MLS games. When they’re not attending games, they’re spending money on Apple’s MLS season pass—which makes a point of advertising that it’s the only way to see all of Messi’s games.

Kids These Days Love Soccer

Even in North America, which has a lot of sports to choose from, if kids play one sport, it’s probably soccer. In Canada, 16% of all kids from 3 to 17 play soccer, the sport with the highest participation rate. The biggest reason for that is cost: soccer is an inexpensive sport to pick up, relatively speaking. However, in the US, there’s been a 5% bump to participation in youth soccer since Messi started playing stateside. How much is Messi driving soccer’s popularity among youth, both as players and fans? Hard to say, but given the sheer number of kids in Messi shirts running around the park, we’d bet money it’s no small amount. So if you’re watching more soccer than you used to, if you’ve been thinking of picking up a soccer streaming package, if your kid wants to keep playing the game into middle school, if there’s just a bit more soccer in your life than before, you may be seeing the Messi effect in your own life.

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