Messi and Co. at Inter Miami: Where is football heading in the USA?
Messi, Busquets, Suarez: The MLS team Inter Miami relies on aged top stars. They should give the US league a push before the 2026 World Cup. But is this strategy also sustainable?
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Florida has long had the reputation of being a retiree’s paradise – not only US citizens, but also tens of thousands of emigrants from all over the world come to the Sonnensee in their later years and contribute to the highest average age in the USA. A new target group has recently been added – not quite as old, but also at the end of their active career.
Memories of Cosmos New York
If you include club owner David Beckham, this string of illustrious names is very reminiscent of the beginnings of professional football in the USA. Franz Beckenbauer, Pele, Carlos Alberto and Giorgio Chinaglia joined Cosmos New York in the late 1970s.
Football World Cup 2026 in the USA
Like their predecessors, Messi and Co. should act as driving forces for the entire league. “If you have such a world star or several world stars in the league, it obviously helps a lot,” says MLS podcaster Anne Meyer on the Bolzplatz program. “Especially considering that the World Cup will be in our own country in two years, this will provide the necessary push.”
Before that, the Copa America (2024) as well as the FIFA Club World Cup and the Gold Cup (2026) will take place in the USA. “It’s perfect timing that Inter Miami is now showing so many fans nationally: You don’t play football with an egg, but with a ball,” says football field presenter Manu Thiele.
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Miami is much more attractive with Messi
The viewer numbers indicate that the concept is working. With Messi, Miami attracted an average of 40,581 spectators at its away games, compared to just 22,916 before that. Even in this country you sometimes see pink or black Miami jerseys with the number 10.
But that also happened 40 years ago, when huge investments led to a false boom in US football. More and more investors wanted to benefit from the boom and brought old stars from Europe. A bloated “operetta league” emerged without a sustainable basis, which slowly fell apart.
MLS is younger on average than top leagues in Europe
Today’s MLS has learned from the mistakes of the past, has grown more slowly and, above all, can rely on its own youth system. “We’ve seen some players who have already been exported to the highest levels in Europe,” says Orlando-based MLS commentator Evan Weston.
“Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies is a product of the MLS academy.” At 25.6, the average age of MLS is below that of the top four leagues in Europe.
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How sustainable is the development at Inter Miami?
Inter Miami is now going the other way again and has increased its own average through new purchases to 30.2 years. The transfers were only possible because the usual salary cap in the US professional leagues in the MLS allows exceptions for three players. With Messi, who could probably earn significantly more in Saudi Arabia, there are also participations in jersey sales and TV subscriptions.
In terms of sport, the investment is currently paying off for Miami: after playing four games so far, the team from Florida is at the top of the table. But how sustainable is the construct?
Miami’s path an example for the entire league?
“I’m very excited to see what it looks like on the track and whether everyone stays injury-free,” says ex-Bundesliga player and current Chicago professional Rafael Czichos. “If you have players like that in the squad, it obviously also means that the squad’s breadth suffers. We want to see what it looks like at the end of the season, whether the strength can still keep up and whether the boys are still ready meters.”
The answer to this question will probably depend on whether other US clubs will increasingly rely on old stars again – or whether they will continue to rely on the quality of their youth development and make the stars themselves in the future.
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2024-03-14 16:21:59
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