Inter Miami’s tour of china: how much money will the club earn?

Inter Miami are set to fly to China for a postseason tour after the club failed to make the domestic playoffs in MLS. The side ultimately missed out on classifying for the chance to play more stateside football due to a late-season wobble that saw them go winless in 5, including a damaging defeat to Houston Dynamo in the US Open Cup final.

To make matters worse, the club had to compete in the home straight of the campaign without Lionel Messi, their star player and talisman, the figure who had signalled the huge winds of change at the club. But we all know that the football never stops, and the side have to pick themselves up quickly before packing their bags for Asia.

But why are the club doing the postseason trip? How much money will they earn? Let’s take a look...

China tour “a great opportunity”, says Miami director

“This will be a great opportunity to continue building on our 2023 campaign, in which we achieved our first-ever trophy,” Miami’s sporting director and chief soccer officer, Chris Henderson, said. “We will take this as an opportunity to begin our preparations for 2024, as we look to build on last season and find more success moving forward.”

The idea behind the Chinese tour is, for the MLS side, as well as giving the players semi-competitive minutes to keep them fresh, to also give the club a chance to expand globally in a huge market. The enthusiasm for football in China continues to grow rapidly: while the boom we saw of the domestic league is now limited, the rooted and loyal fanfare for the sport is still there, with the country actually inventing its own version of football, cuju, way before the modern game that we know know.

How much money will Inter Miami earn from the China tour?

The MLS side have not yet revealed either the television or ticketing information for the tour of China, with the club website’s announcement saying news is arriving “in the coming weeks”. However, if we look at the last time Messi was in China, which was back in June when Argentina played a friendly game in Beijing, which was against Australia at the Workers’ Stadium, the lowest-priced seats for were listed at $80 and the highest-priced sat at around $670.

Some quick mental maths shows that, if the tickets are similarly priced, given the two stadiums can hold between 50,000 and 60,000 fans, the pair of matches could generate well over $20m in ticket revenue. Tickets to see Messi in China have a history of selling out at the speed of light, so expect this to be no different. Reports suggest that the Argentina Football Federation earned around $6 million for two games post World Cup - it would not be far-fetched to suspect Miami’s figure might be a lot more.

Miami set to benefit from China tour sales

Then there are the merchandise sales for Miami/Messi gear, which will almost certainly be sold in huge quantities. Tour-specific merchandise, be it a cross-brand collaboration or a simple Adidas x Inter Miami collection, has also not been announced, however it would not be the first time something like this has happened. Chinese New Year collaborations are one of Adidas’ yearly events, so the possibility remains that the club work with the kit manufacturer to create a special, one-off range for the tour.

Finally, the club website announcement did not, curiously, mention Lionel Messi by name, but it would take a braver soul than me to suggest that the Argentine’s seat on the plane is in doubt. I’ll let social media do the worrying.