MLS: David Beckham Is The Real Winner Of The Lionel Messi Deal

Lionel Messi shook the soccer world with his decision on Wednesday to join Inter Miami CF for the upcoming season. The saga finally came to a conclusion, with the superstar choosing the MLS over offers from Saudi Arabia and European teams.

David Beckham’s move to MLS is one of the best sports business deals ever:

• Earned $255M over 5 years
• Purchased Inter Miami for $25M
• Inter Miami is valued at $600M

And now they have Lionel Messi, which will push the club’s valuation toward ~$1 billion.

Incredible 🤯 pic.twitter.com/BthRt6E4f9

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 7, 2023

There will be financial gains for everyone involved. Messi chose Miami CF in large part because of promises of extra money, including revenue-sharing deals with Adidas and Apple. The franchise will of course benefit from having arguable the world’s most popular athlete on their field. Ticket prices have already begun to soar, and there will most certainly be a rise in merchandise sales and viewership, both locally and internationally.

But perhaps the biggest winner of all is David Beckham.

Beckham himself spent some time being a global soccer icon. Best known for his glory days with Manchester United, he had a playing career that spanned 21 years. Like Messi, he made one of his career stops in the MLS, playing for the LA Galaxy from 2007 until 2012.

Beckham got into ownership after his playing days, and the move has paid off. And then some. In 2014, Beckham exercised his right to purchase an expansion MLS franchise, which was a part of his contract with the Galaxy. He ultimately wound up purchasing Inter Miami CF for a price of $25 million.

Leo Messi follows in the footsteps of Zlatan Ibrahimović and David Beckham as he heads to the U.S. to play in MLS 👀 pic.twitter.com/Q0mQx9dBda

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 7, 2023

Things got off to a rough start with stadium issues which caused delays for the team finally making its MLS debut, but they finally began play in 2020.

It has been all uphill for Beckham since. It has been estimated that he has earned $255 million over the last 5 years by way of his ownership, and the club was recently valued at $600 million. But that number has grown even larger with the addition of Messi. It is believed that Inter Miami’s worth as a franchise will get close to or reach the $1 billion mark. Not bad for an initial investment of $25 million.

While the deal is not completely finalized, the writing is on the wall for Lionel Messi to join Inter Miami, and it has been confirmed by the man himself on Wednesday.

His first game is scheduled to take place on July 21st. The cheapest ticket to get in is currently listed at $477.

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