MLS
Tickets for Lionel Messi’s MLS debut against NYRB surpass $20,000 mark
The Argentine has been the undisputed hero for Inter Miami and tickets to see him are being sold for huge fees, but they are still bottom of MLS.
Ticket prices for Inter Miami vs New York Red Bulls, the game where Lionel Messi should make his MLS debut, have soared to over $20,000 dollars after consistently stunning performances from the Argentine.
Believe the hype, Messi magic is real. The World Cup winner again wiggled an entire club out of a phone box-sized room despite there being a huge lion and a deadly snake inside, providing two wonderfully placed and wonderfully dramatic assists against Cincinnati for Leonardo Campana to pop in the back of the net as though it were the easiest thing to do in a game of football. They are now into the final of the US Open Cup and Messi is set to star in another final.
Messi has not stopped flicking fairy dust around the US that is stuck on the end of his boots and Inter Miami are a beast that has evolved to the next stage of its life cycle and developed a deadly set of fangs and a poisonous tail. Even the most optimistic of fans could not have expected Leo to not need time to adapt, to not need a few weeks of breaking him in, to not need any games of laser tag or Pizza Hut meals out with teammates to build that mental connection: Messi can do it all anyway, he’s that good.
Messi has given Miami new life, but they’re still bottom of MLS
As a result, despite the madness we’ve seen over the past few weeks with Inter Miami’s Leagues Cup win and the US Open Cup progression against the odds, the club still sit bottom of the Eastern Conference in MLS, with just 18 points from 22 games played.
The Herons have had an abysmal domestic campaign BM - that’s ‘Before Messi’ - scoring, after 22 games played, only 22 goals (on average just one per game) and conceding 36 (1.6 per game). Their win record is, well, terrible, and the side have just 18 points, having only come away with a victory on 5 occasions; they have drawn three and lost the other 14.
Who will Inter Miami face in Messi’s MLS debut game?
While there is no relegation in MLS, there is the carrot of getting to the final rounds of the competition, and Messi’s side are 14 points from Chicago Fire in 9th, who have won 8, drawn 8 and lost 8 to give them. Roll your eyes a little higher up the table and Atlanta have 38 points in 7th, occupying the final spot in the league that leads directly to the next round.
But this is MLS, the competition that still lives watching on, hoping for the debut to fly in from around the corner. Inter Miami, Messi, Robert Taylor and co. in their AM (’After Messi’) period are set to make their MLS return against New York Red Bulls on Saturday 26 August at 7:30PM ET.
How much are Inter Miami tickets against NYRB?
For that game, ticket prices have skyrocketed, with tickets at the Red Bull Arena starting off at $415. They rise as one scrolls through the various seats at the 25,000-capacity stadium, all the way to $10,000, with some even reaching $20,000 once various fees have been added.
A quick calculation from AS USA estimated that there are around 500 tickets left at the stadium with around 17 hours to go, but this figure can fluctuate given the fact that they are almost all up for verified resale; the section with the most tickets left, you may not be surprised to hear, was indeed the middle section with the ‘television screen’ view, with prices ranging from around $1,500 to $10,000. If I were you, I’d just watch the live updates on AS USA.
It’s probably a good thing that Inter Miami are bottom, as it forces Lionel Messi to get his groove on from the off. Having said that, does anyone know if he can actually turn it off?