FC Inter Miami and soccer legend Lionel Messi shook up the world of sports in early June when they agreed to a record-breaking contract that brought Messi to Major League Soccer in South Beach.
How Messi Impacts Miami
While Miami sits in the basement of the Eastern Conference with a pitiful 18 points in 22 matches, the regular season isn't over yet. With 12 games left to play and an expanded postseason format this year that means the top nine seeds in each conference will qualify for the playoffs in some fashion (the top seven via auto bid and the eight and nine seeds in a play-in tournament for the final spot in the bracket), Miami still has life.
Even better for the Herons is the fact that the MLS regular season is currently on pause as they take part in the Leagues Cup against Liga MX.
They've gone 3-0 in the tournament so far (Messi's first game for Miami was the opening match of the group stage), outscoring their opponents 9-2.
If Miami was going to deal with any growing pains as they figure out a new team dynamic with Messi in the mix, they have an opportunity to do so now without sacrificing regular season wins.
DC United currently occupies the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference with 30 points in 24 matches: with a pair of games in hand, a comeback remains on the table, and Messi has already shown that he can key the team to wins against MLS competition with four goals in two games against them.
While he may not be quite the player he was at the peak of his powers (at age 36, his career is starting to wind down, even if he's still lighting up nets wherever he goes), it's clear that Messi is more than enough to boost Miami's fortunes and keep them in the thick of the playoff race. They're far off in the distance right now but looming on the horizon with each passing win.
Amidst Messi's success, BetMGM Sportsbook has also taken note (Inter Miami has odds as high as +1200 to win it all this season, more than ten times as good as they were before Messi joined the fold) and is offering the best BetMGM bonus codes, giving fans the chance to place bets on Inter Miami's matches and Messi's goal-scoring prowess. As Inter Miami's prospects soar with the GOAT leading the charge, US sports betting adds an extra layer of thrill for fans, further elevating the excitement of the MLS season.
Could They Really Do It?
We'll find out as the month of August goes on.
The ongoing Leagues Cup shows that they can win in a playoff-like atmosphere, and they'll have another such match on August 23, when Miami hosts Cincinnati (the runaway best team in MLS this season with 51 points) in the US Open Cup. Having that game at home certainly helps, but if they're able to beat Cincy (or even hang with them) the rest of the league will officially be on notice.
Miami beat up on Orlando City (No.5 in the Eastern Conference with 37 points) 3-1 and Atlanta United (No. 7 in the East with 35 points) 4-0 as part of the Leagues Cup.
If they can defeat some of the best teams in the conference handily (although the difference in effort given in a midseason tournament certainly does remain a question mark, as Miami needs to show they can win much more than an entrenched team does), they can beat the teams immediately ahead of them.
Their schedule for the rest of the season is balanced, with only half the teams they have left to face currently possessing a winning record… with wins against Orlando and Atlanta already in the books, they've shown they can win against two of those winning teams.
It seems like a tall task, but if Messi is running circles around MLS-caliber defenders at age 36, anything is possible.
What it Means for MLS
Per a statement from Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr, the MLS (and their broadcasting partners over at Apple TV) enjoyed "the 3 most watched matches ever on MLS Season Pass, with viewers in almost 100 countries and regions around the world. And the fans for those matches were roughly split between the MLS Season Pass English and Spanish language broadcasts."
More attention means more money, more money means more star players brought in (as we've seen Saudi sports moguls prove over the past couple of years, as they've baited players like Christiano Ronaldo to their fledgling leagues with jaw-dropping sums of money) ... do more star players mean more legitimacy?
The MLS has long sat a step (or three) behind other major professional leagues like the English Premier League, Spain's La Liga, or Italy's Serie A: if Messi gives MLS enough of a jolt to bring in major offshore talent, we could see them leap up the charts in terms of revenue, popularity (and, indeed, legitimacy) in the coming years. It's amazing what adding a seven-time Ballon d'Or winner (as the best player in the world for a given year) can do for a league's prospects.
