Messi’s Arrowhead Visit Was The Spectacle MLS Needs More Of

14 Apr 2024 by Ian Nicholas Quillen · Forbes

Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring a goal during the second half against Sporting Kansas City at ... [+] Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday night.Getty Images

One of the surprises of Lionel Messi’s first year in Major League Soccer is how insular the whole thing has felt.

Perhaps this should’ve been expected. Messi’s greatness is the kind that reveals itself solely on the field. Off of it, he is clearly a more naturally introverted person who tolerates fame as a cost of doing what he loves and making an enormous fortune from it rather than embracing it.

Yet the obvious comparisons that circulated when news of Messi’s decision to come to MLS first circulated were those of Pele’s time in the old NASL, during which the legendary Brazilian was part athlete, part rockstar and part head of state. So it’s been a little weird that Messi’s first year on American and Canadian shores has occurred mostly behind the paywall of Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass and within the relatively cozy confines of the league’s soccer-specific stadiums.

That changed during Saturday night’s match against Sporting Kansas City at the cavernous Arrowhead Stadium, where it was immediately clear the Midwestern club had made the absolute correct decision in moving the fixture from its own smaller home ground to that of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.

There were tens of thousands of fans in Messi’s Miami jersey, and even more than in the home colors. Any animosity between the groups was imperceptible. There were five goals — including Messi’s gorgeous strike from distance and a winner from some other famous South American named Luis Suarez.

And there were 72,610 people who saw a highly entertaining match, one that on the whole lived up to the big stage and proved that the product MLS offers can do so when given the opportunity.

Sporting Kansas City faced criticism when it initially announced its decision to relocate the game. Yet this is the kind of experience MLS and its clubs should be aiming for as often as possible for the remainder of Messi’s time in the league.

In light of Messi and Miami’s exit from the Concacaf Champions Cup in midweek, there has been a lot of discussion about whether MLS needs to think bigger in terms of removing salary limitations to allow its stars a better chance on the continental stage. What there hasn’t been enough discourse around is how to better put MLS on the domestic map while Messi is here. It’s almost as though there is an assumption that merely coupling a very popular brand — Apple — with a very popular player will be enough to make a lasting impression on those who aren’t yet league devotees.

The TV strategy itself has been troubling. With subscriptions to sell to Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass service, it’s understandable that the league’s streaming partner would want to be protective of Messi’s telecasts rather than just having Fox or FS1 simulcast all of his games. But it’s probably the wrong decision to only feature Messi once in MLS on lineal TV this season.

Fans have been able to see Messi on Fox-owned channels anyway during his games in the Concacaf Champions Cup, and will do so again throughout the summer during the 2024 Copa America (which MLS will play through). It’s enough of an inventory that a sizable chunk of Messi fans probably don’t feel a need to also subscribe to Apple TV’s service. And in not putting more of his games on network or cable TV, you’re missing a chance to educate people about the league at large who would otherwise pass on it based on their own assumptions .

As for holding big stadium events, the good news is more of those are probably coming. Although no away side has scheduled a change of venue, there are many on Miami’s away schedule who have the capability to pack 40,000 or more fans into the building without relocating.

Even so, maybe the Herons could also be doing more to put their star and their product before more people. It’s disappointing that rumored plans to move some home games to the Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium haven’t come to fruitition, particularly rivalry matches against Orlando City or Atlanta United, or clashes against MLS powers like the Philadelphia Union or FC Cincinnati.

Because Saturday night felt special. It felt like an event, not just at Arrowhead but around MLS. And that’s how it should feel every time the game’s greatest living player takes the field in your league. MLS and its clubs need to figure out how to recapture that more often.