Welcome to Miami, Lionel Messi. We’re bracing for the hoopla you’ll bring | Opinion

Ready or not, if you live in South Florida, you’re about to begin a new relationship. In fact, you may already be involved. Lionel Messi will hit the soccer field for the first time as Inter Miami’s premier star on Friday.

Let the hoopla begin.

Those who follow international and Major League Soccer know exactly what it means for Inter Miami’s owners — ex-soccer star David Beckham and brothers Jorge and Jose Mas — to have snared Messi, believed to be the “Greatest of All Time,” much like Michael Jordan was during his heyday with the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. Messi’s international appeal puts him on a whole other playing field.

Named “best player in the world” a record seven times and a World Cup hero, Messi shocked the soccer world last month when he chose Inter Miami over playing in Saudi Arabia for $500 million or returning to his glory days with FC Barcelona.

Miami won Messi because he owns property here and vacations here with his wife and two sons. He loves our Latin vibe, we hear. He’ll also be making as much as $150 million annually through 2026.

The rains came

And if we needed further proof that Messi is a blessing, on Sunday, when he was officially introduced in the team’s temporary Fort Lauderdale stadium and handed the pink #10 player shirt, the skies opened in torrential downpour as Messi strolled up to the stage across a ramp.

A sign from above? Affirmation that he’ll be a rainmaker?

In the past, we’ve had famous residents and celebrities who call Miami home: Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James. But Messi is a game-changer. He is poised to impact our lives and our economy by simply breathing the same air we do. And he’s inching toward 500 million Instagram followers, to boot.

No doubt Messi will make millions for himself, his team, his fellow players and others in his orbit. Soon we’ll all know what mansion Messi lives in, where he shops and eats and buys groceries. For now, that seems to be Publix. Social media went crazy over the set-up pics of Messi at the register.

He will be a magnet for the paparazzi, for “tech bros” who grew up on soccer, for tourists and celebrity watchers, local businesses and large companies wanting him to endorse them or simply dine at their eatery. He’ll attract an international spotlight that will reflect on all of us here, we suspect in both good and bad ways.

Soccer stadium deal

And if Messi lives up to the hype, he will do something more significant: He might help Miami residents feel better about giving up public land, namely the Melreese Golf Course next to Miami International Airport, to build a voter-approved, no-bid contract 25,000-seat, $1.3 billion, 131-acre soccer stadium and sports complex, where Messi will be king.

Messi might even make us forget that the city’s proposed minimum rent on the soccer complex is just $3.57 million annually, an amount set in 2018 before the real estate boom. Full rent would not be due until the stadium is complete.

Or maybe the money will pour in giving the city leverage to renegotiate the deal?

Messi mania

But if Messi Mania can keep that complex hopping as an economic engine, the stadium might seem a worthy venture. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, now a presidential candidate, can claim it as a feather in his cap.

Messi must do his part, on and off the field. On the field, we’re sure he’ll be majestic. One soccer online site says Messi “mesmerizes defenders with a mix of skill and speed unmatched, and it often appears as though the ball is glued to his feet.”

Off the field, hope he becomes a fully engaged member of this community, say, a la former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning, who made giving at-risk kids a boost his cause.

But for now, we suggest those non-soccer fans reconsider getting in on the mania. They’ll be swept away.