This year marks the third season of Lionel Messi at Inter Miami, already leaving a huge mark in the heart of the Miami crowd. The best player in history made a huge impact in the United States, not only by winning two titles in two years, but also by making the MLS grow in a way never seen before, having teams change from stadiums with a capacity of up to 20,000, to football stadiums with over 80,000 just for Messi. In 2025, the biggest impact Messi has caused was related to the stadium, but in this case it was him not being in the stadiums, or being in the private suits, which has caused thousands of fans to rage online due to Messi missing the games. The question has to be brought up, is there a solution for the lack of Messi?
Why are fans angry?
Since the start of the 2025 season of Inter Miami, the team has already played seven games, four at home and three away, in which Messi has missed three of those seven, two of them being at Inter Miami’s home, Chase Stadium. Before Messi people could find tickets for as low as $6, but since Messi they haven’t gone down from $6, fans pay these high-priced tickets just because of Leo. Same thing has happened to fans from other teams, with Inter Miami going to away games and Messi travelling maybe once per year to their cities, between the prices established by their team and the resale, fans have bought tickets from as low as $150 up to $2000.
The first big problem happened last year. In May of 2024, Messi missed an away game against Vancouver Whitecaps, with the reason for not showing up being he needed to rest, something common in sports, but uncommon for Messi. The Theeparajah family spent around $2,000 on a four-game Golden Era ticket package, plus round-trip ferry fares, to celebrate their son Carter’s ninth birthday, specifically drawn in by marketing that featured Messi. However, when the game arrived, Messi was absent, leaving them feeling deceived. “It’s highway robbery, if I am being honest, and the MLS knows that. They are getting away with it, and I think it’s shameful,” said Theeparajah, showing his frustration towards Messi and Inter Miami.
The latest case was with Messi not travelling to Houston for the second game of the MLS against the Dynamo. The Dynamo case was rapidly spread worldwide, because MLS promoted the match during primetime with Messi, and Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano, claimed that Messi was fine just two days before the game. “Leo is fine, he is normal and he will train normally like all his teammates,” Mascherano said at the last practice before travelling to Houston, but when Saturday came, Leo was nowhere to be seen in the travelling squad. Dynamo released a statement to fans promising them tickets for another game due to Messi’s no-show.
How has Inter Miami and MLS handled it?
Inter Miami maintains that player participation cannot be guaranteed for any specific match. Head coach Javier Mascherano, and former coach Gerardo Martino, have always emphasized the importance of managing Messi’s playtime to prevent fatigue and potential injuries. Mascherano stated, “We have to take care of him to make sure he doesn’t get more fatigued.” When asked about Messi, coaches have always given an exact reason as to why he wasn’t playing. The MLS hold the same thoughts as Inter Miami, player’s availability depends on multiple factors, and they cannot be guaranteed for any specific match.
This is not the only sport with this problem, Lebron James is always a matter of public opinion in him not playing in the NBA when he travels to the east coast. NBA, MLS, or NFL, are all sports that cannot guarantee the participation of a specific player. Considering that the MLS is played in two countries, and them being the second and the third biggest countries in the world, long trips can be a major inconvenience.
The business side of sports
Lionel Messi’s arrival to Miami did not only bring huge joy to the fans, but also to the MLS and Inter Miami owners. The biggest star of the world, brings the biggest money in the world.
As previously mentioned, Inter Miami tickets skyrocketed in a matter of hours when Messi was first announced. Tickets against Cruz Azul, the first game where Messi played with the pink jersey, went from $40 to $500 the cheapest, with Inter Miami releasing more tickets with an official price of $350 the lowest. After the first two games, tickets came down to the more reasonable price of $120, which was still expensive. Basically, Inter Miami home games have risen around a 100% price increase, making them the most home game tickets in the MLS.
Although Miami is expensive, the away games are something to die for. The secondary ticket market experienced unprecedented activity post-Messi’s signing. Tickets for Inter Miami’s matches became some of the most in-demand tickets of the whole world of sports, not only in the United States. One of the biggest cases was the first game that Lionel Messi played against LAFC in Los Angeles, where some tickets were being sold at $96,000. For most, travelling to Miami to spend a week and watch Messi, has become cheaper than watching him in their own city.
Season tickets have been the most affected in these. Pre-Messi era was a better time for the real Inter fans, where they would go support the team no matter who was playing. Although Messi was a beautiful reward for the ultras, the prices were not. The cheapest Season Ticket in 2023 was going for $445, and in 2024 they got a 100% price raise, reaching the cheapest season ticket to $900 for 17 games. Mike Ryan, a Miami local and regular attendee, shared his experience on social media. “My 2023 season ticket plan was $6,802.00 for two seats. The price they quoted to retain my seats is $30,600.00.”
Is there a solution for this?
Dynamo wasn’t the first case where the Argentinian did not show up and the franchise gave fans their money back. In the pre-season tour of 2024, Messi did not play in a friendly game against the Hong Kong National Team, which cause a massive outrage from fans in the country, leading to the organization of the game refunding 50% of the ticket to fans, marking a new episode on the fútbol world, an organization refunding the money because of one player. Unfortunately for the MLS and franchises, this saga continued, Chicago Fire and Vancouver Whitecaps were also forced to refund money to their fans due to the no-show from Leo.
If we check previous stories about players not playing in some matches, we would never find solutions like refunds, but we are talking about an MLS team that no one seemed to care about two years and a half ago. The main reason why this happens in the MLS is because of Inter Miami’s lack of importance worldwide, and because soccer is not the biggest sport in the U.S.. When fans paid tickets for Barcelona vs Napoli in 2019 at the Hard Rock Stadium and Messi didn’t play, fans were not happy. But were there refunds? No, people still enjoyed watching one of the greatest teams in the history of fútbol, Barcelona. This could never happen with an MLS team, because unfortunately the sport is not big enough in the U.S., and the MLS is considered a small league around the world.
