Inter Miami offer to Lionel Messi sweetened by Apple, Adidas, MLS, report says

Lionel Messi has strong emotional ties to FC Barcelona, and the Spanish giant is pushing hard for him to rejoin the club; but the financial package reportedly being put together by Inter Miami, Major League Soccer and its partners might be difficult to turn down.

The Herald has been reporting for months that Inter Miami’s offer to sign Messi this summer would likely be sweetened by Apple, which last year signed a 10-year $2.5 billion broadcast deal with the league, as well as by MLS, which could offer team ownership incentives as it did with David Beckham in 2007.

A league source familiar with the negotiations with Messi told the Herald on Wednesday morning that Messi still had not made a decision, and it could be another week before he does.

The Athletic reported in a story published late Tuesday night that the MLS offer to Messi includes revenue and profit-sharing deals with Apple and Adidas and would “likely include” the option to purchase a percentage of an MLS team upon his end of his time playing in the league.

“Multiple sources involved in or briefed on the high-level league discussions said earlier this week that MLS and Apple have discussed offering Messi a share of the revenue created by new subscribers to the MLS Season Pass, the league’s streaming package,” wrote The Athletic.

Adidas, one of MLS’ biggest corporate sponsors “has prepared its own potential arrangement to entice Messi to the United States..a profit-sharing agreement which would involve the player receiving a cut of any increase in Adidas’ profits resulting from his involvement in MLS.”

Messi, the seven-time winner of the Ballon d’Or trophy as the world’s best player, has been heavily courted by Inter Miami while also weighing options in Europe and the Middle East. He will be out of contract with Paris Saint-Germain on June 30 and both sides announced that the 2022-23 season was his last with the French club.

Among the offers Messi is exploring are an emotional return to Barcelona, where he spent more than 20 years after joining at the age of 13; a reported $500 million deal with Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal; and the move to MLS to play for Inter Miami.

According to The Athletic, Inter Miami and Barcelona are the two finalists, with the Saudi deal taking a backseat.

Messi owns a vacation home in South Florida, visits frequently, and has said on several occasions that the idea of playing in the United States and experiencing the Miami lifestyle with his family appeal to him.

Messi has been in negotiations with Inter Miami co-owners Beckham and Miami brothers Jose and Jorge Mas and the club began preparing for the potential summer arrival of Messi and his former FC Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets (whose contract also expires June 30) since the season began. The club reserved jerseys No. 10 and No. 5, the numbers worn by Messi and Busquets.

The club, which plays in 18,000-seat DRV PNK Stadium, suspended single-game home ticket sales until after July 1. Tickets are available only for games through the July 1 matchup against Austin FC. If a fan tries to buy a ticket through the club website/Ticketmaster for later in the season, it says “In the works. Check back!” Other teams have tickets available for the duration of the season.

MLS commissioner Don Garber said the league was doing all it could to assist Miami in landing the deal.

The league lured English icon Beckham to the Los Angeles Galaxy with a five-year $32 million deal that included the chance to buy an MLS franchise for a deeply discounted price of $25 million, which he did when he launched Inter Miami in 2014. That turned out to be a wildly profitable investment, as the average MLS franchise is valued at over $500 million in 2023.

Garber, asked by CBS News during a late-April meeting with the Associated Press Sports Editors, said of the Messi-to-Inter Miami talks:

“We will work very hard with Miami, who is the team that is hoping to be able to sign him, to come up with a program for him that will allow him to establish a legacy that I think could be unprecedented globally, let alone unprecedented here in our country because I think of him as someone who crosses so many barriers that he can be bigger than any athlete of any sport that has ever played here in the United States. We have been pretty effective at coming up with clever ways to sign players for our clubs in the right market. It’s very real-time and I hope that we’re able to get in front of the discussion and hopefully bring something over the finish line.”

It would also be a great boost to U.S. soccer in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Spanish and Argentine media reported that Messi’s first choice was to return to Barcelona and the Spanish club’s executives made it no secret they want him back. But Barca is mired in financial complications.

French sports newspaper L’Equipe reported last week that FC Barcelona and Inter Miami discussed the possibility of an arrangement in which Miami would sign the Argentine superstar and then loan him to Barcelona for six to 18 months.

“The Catalan giant’s financial situation and its heavy budgetary constraints make signing Messi extremely complicated, but the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has given his former club time to work on it,” L’Equipe reported. “The latter has already finalized substantial savings (wage cuts, end of contract for Jordi Alba, non-extension of (Sergio Busquets) but they are still far from the mark and are examining plans B.”

One of those alternatives would be a partnership with Inter Miami.

“This would allow him to continue playing at the highest level in Europe until the Copa America 2024, to come full circle with the club of his life, before going to discover MLS,” said the L’Equipe report.

The Copa America, a prestigious South American tournament, will be held in the United States in 2024 and will include six teams from CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean). It will be a test run for 2026 World Cup U.S. host cities, which include Miami.