Everything
Midas touched
turned into gold
.
But virtue, ultimately, was a curse for the king of Phrygia, an ancient region of Asia Minor in what is now Turkey.
Legends claim that Midas, far from being the richest in the world,
died of hunger
.
Of course, gold gives food but it cannot be kneaded or swallowed.
A disgrace.
More than 25 centuries passed and
King Midas was incarnated in Lionel Messi.
But for the Argentine it is far from being a sentence.
The gift of turning everything he touches into gold causes profits to multiply wherever you look.
And not only for him, who deserves them well because there is no other like him on the field, but for all those who associate with someone who, in the final stretch of his career, definitively became the best salesman in world football.
It is true that Messi's contract with Inter Miami is less than the one he had signed with Paris Saint Germain.
From the Qatari capitals club, which ended up dismissing him after his consecration in the 2022 World Cup,
he received an annual salary of 30 million clean dollars
.
Here, in the United States, it "barely" exceeds
20M
.
But, replicating the successful model that made Michael Jordan and Phil Knight, owner of Nike, millionaires,
the link includes a royalty for attracting subscribers to the MLS League Pass on Apple TV
and a direct benefit in Adidas' profits from the sale of its Tshirts.
They are, obviously, much more than 20 million.
And, the best thing for him, the plus is in his left foot and in his talent without an expiration date.
The percentages agreed upon by Messi are not known and the technology and sports clothing giants are very reluctant to provide numbers.
But there may be signs that the partnership is
win-win
.
Messi arrives at the stadium to make his MLS debut in 2024. (EFE)
Subscriptions to watch the MLS on Apple TV - you have to pay between 13 and 15 dollars per month -
have grown exponentially
since the
Scaloneta
captain appears as their standard bearer.
"I'm not going to give figures, but I can tell you that subscriptions have grown substantially since Messi's arrival. Before the subscribers were very American. Now a significant number of subscribers from Latin America and Europe have been added. That was a big change for us
," says
Eddy Cue
, Apple's vice president of Services, in a
Clarín
dialogue .
Unofficially, there is talk that
110 thousand accounts were opened to see the Rosario's debut in the Leagues Cup against Cruz Azul
.
And that was just his first role.
The impact is so great that in the
Season Pass
they no longer only stream the games, but there is also an omnibus program called
"This is the MLS"
that simultaneously covers all the matches, replicating the successful
"NFL Red Zone" model.
"
of American football.
Interest in the league is growing almost as much as the league itself is growing.
Adidas is also doing great business with Messi.
It is very difficult to get an official national team t-shirt with the three stars because the demand is not enough.
Everyone loves her.
Few have it.
And more than 14 months passed since the consecration in Lusail.
Much easier is to get one from Inter Miami.
But you have to have money to get it.
In the official Chase Stadium store, the sellers did not stop restocking it.
The official jersey, the one worn by the players,
costs $199
.
The version for fans, the same in terms of design, but with different technology, costs
US$149
.
Unattainable for more than half of Argentines.
Messi's Adidas shirt costs between $149 and $199.
(EFE)
Everyone wins and we still need to talk about a fundamental actor:
Inter Miami, which makes every penny
of its investment count to have unusual profits considering that five years ago it was a soccer club that had just been born.
It took Messi's 15 games - 14 last year and Wednesday's against Real Salt Lake -
for his valuation to grow by 72 percent
.
He went from 600 million dollars in 2023 to 1,030 million in 2024. To measure these numbers, a comparison with the Premier League is worth it.
Traditional teams from the best league in the world, such as Aston Villa, Everton or even Newcastle - today owned by an Arab consortium - are worth less than the franchise managed by brothers Jorge and José Más Canosa and
the Englishman David Beckham.
The arrival of Messi, the King Midas of football, to Miami is embodied with the arrival of increasingly stronger sponsors for Inter.
The sponsor of the shirt, until last year, was XBTO, a cryptocurrency financial company.
Now it has the Royal Caribbean cruise holding company.
Two powers greet each other, Gatica would say.
"This partnership makes perfect sense for all of us: two local brands with global audiences and enormous ambitions
," summarized Inter Miami's commercial director, Xavier Asensi, who came to the franchise after a long journey in Barcelona.
Messi showed a good level at the start of the championship.
(AFP)
One day before the debut of the 2024 MLS campaign,
the club changed the name of its stadium
.
It stopped being DRV PNK, a slogan for cancer prevention of AutoNation, the largest dealership group in the world, to be Chase after the agreement with JP Morgan, the largest bank in the United States and one of the largest financial companies in the world. world.
The numbers are astonishing.
The tour of El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan reminded us of the times when Pelé's Santos toured the world.
It was an effort from a sporting point of view for
Gerardo Martino
and his team.
However, the more than 37 thousand kilometers traveled in three weeks also had a huge impact on the franchise's coffers.
"It was a balance between commercial and football
," celebrated Tata, who arrived without considerable casualties after having traveled around the world in 21 days.
Between one and the other, specialists estimate that this year's profits for Inter Miami
would be 200 million dollars
.
Shocking.
And even more so if you do this simple calculation: Messi, even though he is Midas, costs them just 10 percent.