Some season ticket holders are contemplating taking advantage of the situation.
Being a Lionel Messi fan these days is just as expensive as being a Swiftie.
If you want to watch Inter Miami play next month, you might have to splash the same amount of cash you would to see Taylor Swift in concert. Tickets to see the soccer legend potentially debut with the Major League Soccer (M.L.S.) team are selling for an average of $2,600 before fees, Bloomberg reported, citing resale platform SeatGeek Inc. If you wanted to snag a last-minute seat at Swift’s Eras Tour performance in Pittsburgh on Friday, meanwhile, it would cost you about $2,625.
Though Messi’s deal with Inter Miami is not yet official, the skyrocketing demand for tickets indicates that fans think the Argentine superstar may make his first start at the match between Inter Miami and Mexican club Cruz Azul on July 21. That’s because it’s the team’s first home game after the summer transfer window opens and Messi will be able to switch clubs. The cheapest seats for the event are selling for $950 before fees, while tickets for Miami’s July 4 match against Columbus Crew can be bought for as little as $29.
The red-hot interest has some season ticket holders contemplating taking advantage of the situation. Soccer fan Daniel Corzo told Bloomberg that he spent $400 for standing-room tickets, an amount that wouldn’t pay for half a ticket in the same section in what may be Messi’s America debut.
“It’s absurd,” Corzo said. “The craziest part is that all these people are spending all this money for a game Messi might not even play in.”
A recent report shed some light on the current state of Messi’s deal. The Athletic said the recent announcement that the soccer star would be playing for Miami was one the league hadn’t anticipated. Multiple sources confirmed to the outlet that final details have yet to be hammered out. The M.L.S. said in a public statement that while they were “pleased” Messi intends to join the team, “work remains to finalize a formal agreement.”
It has taken some time to solidify Messi’s arrangement due to the nature of the deal, which has many different aspects including revenue sharing with Apple, the league’s compensation plan, and marketing and image rights, according to the publication.