Minnesota United rides MLS popularity wave, crediting 'the 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.

"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."

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.

"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.