When Lionel Messi arrived in Major League Soccer in 2023, it became very clear that this would be something different — and bigger — than I had experienced in two decades covering American soccer. The media descended on Fort Lauderdale in force. Inter Miami and MLS was leading SportsCenter. LeBron James, Kim Kardashian and Serena Williams were showing up to games. Advertisement

Not since David Beckham arrived to MLS in 2007 had the world so intently focused its attention on American domestic soccer. And, like when Beckham signed with the LA Galaxy from Real Madrid, the league was facing a pivotal period. Beckham arrived just a few years after MLS considered filing bankruptcy. The decision to create a “designated player rule” would shape the next decade-plus of MLS. Messi’s arrival promised to deliver similar change.

Messi signed coming off of his 2022 World Cup victory with Argentina, and at an unprecedented moment for the sport in this country. The footballing world was descending on the U.S., which would, over the next three years, host the 2024 Copa América, the 2025 Club World Cup and the 2026 World Cup. MLS as an institution was seemingly unsure of how to leverage it all. Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas was not.

“Evolution is inevitable and change is likely,” Mas told me that summer outside of an MLS board of governors meeting in Washington, D.C. In my book, The Messi Effect, out June 2, I explore the growth of American soccer, the creeping influence of the global football economy on the sport in North America and how Messi’s arrival impacted league stakeholders.

Messi wanted to be accepted quickly

Imagine being a career MLS player making six figures, having grown up with a poster of Messi on your wall and suddenly he’s a teammate. For players like Victor Ulloa, it was a new reality. As we reported in The Athletic in 2023, Messi was invited to and joined the team’s WhatsApp chat and hopped into the chat to give a teammate tickets to his unveiling event. It was Ulloa who asked his childhood-hero-turned-teammate for a phone number to add to the group chat. But that wasn’t Ulloa’s toughest ask of Messi in the early days.

Ulloa and U.S. World Cup veteran DeAndre Yedlin decided to see if the new stars on the team would be willing to sing at a team meal as an initiation ritual. From The Messi Effect: Ulloa approached Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Messi, who were sitting together. The superstar trio was initially skeptical, as expected. But Ulloa urged Busquets and Alba, especially. Eventually, Busquets decided he was game to sing. “I’m going to do it,” Busquets told his two former Barcelona teammates. “But you guys have to do it, too.” Alba and Messi doubted that Busquets would actually sing. The midfielder’s nickname was “The Silent Conductor” because of his quiet demeanor and subtle brilliance on the pitch.

Ulloa stood up and clinked his glass to quiet the group. Then, with the unflinching calm he displayed on the ball while under pressure, Busquets, the legendary No. 6, stood and performed a song. Alba was next. The room turned into a party as the left back belted out the first two words: Pobre diabla! It was the reggaeton classic by Don Omar, and nearly the entire room knew the words and joined in. By the end of Alba’s rendition, the entire team was hollering and cheering and urging Messi to go next. “We were all just waiting, seeing if it was ever gonna happen,” recalled Kamal Miller, the Canadian center back. “He just got up like, ‘Okay, screw it. I’m gonna do it.’” Messi stood up on a chair. “Hola,” he said. “Soy Lionel Messi.” Hi. I’m Lionel Messi. Then, he started to sing. “Al poco que debutó ¡Maradó, Maradó! La 12 fue quien coreó ¡Maradó, Maradó!” It was a chorus usually bellowed by Argentina fans about Diego Maradona, the forward whose legacy Messi spent his life chasing. It took just five seconds before the entire Miami team was on its feet. Players twirled napkins over their heads. The staff, seated at another table, joined the players, banging on their tables and cheering. “There was so much noise,” Ulloa said. “It was just like a huge party for thirty seconds until he stopped. And then we all just celebrated.”

Messi’s competitive fire still strong

When Messi arrived in MLS, many around the world declared that it was the end of the Messi we all knew. There was no way he’d be able to maintain his level playing in North America, they said. What that discounted was Messi’s levels of competitiveness. Advertisement

On the day he took publicity photos signing a contract with Inter Miami, Messi met ownership and then-sporting director Chris Henderson in his office. What he said as they sat down was one of my favorite things I learned about Messi. “Tell me all the trophies I can win,” Messi said. That moment in Henderson’s locker room, and another never-before-reported scene of Messi in the locker room after Inter Miami’s 6-0 loss to Al Nassr in a preseason game in Riyadh, are two examples in the book that laid out not just Messi’s mentality, but his understanding of how there was not one game or action that didn’t somehow impact his legacy. When you’re competing not with your peers, but with Pelé and Diego Maradona to be considered the greatest of all time, you don’t have the luxury not to care. Messi cares about what MLS is — or isn’t — doing

If there is a fundamental difference between Beckham’s time in MLS and Messi’s, it’s that the former embraced his role as a spokesperson for the league while the latter actively avoided it. Messi granted just one press conference after arriving in MLS, before the Leagues Cup final in 2023. While he has done a handful of interviews, including postgame comments or sitdowns on Apple TV, he has largely stayed away from the media in America. But don’t mistake that aversion for the media for apathy. Messi is set to be a minority owner of Inter Miami when his playing days are done. That keeps him tied to the league and its success. And he wants the league to grow. He has said as much in his interviews, with ESPN back in 2023 and again with NBC in 2025. “There are still big changes to be made so that teams can continue to grow, but there is a very important foundation in place where teams are prepared and want that growth, and it’s time to do it,” Messi told NBC. Inter owner Jorge Mas told me about a meeting with Messi to discuss a contract extension. “He’s sitting there going, ‘I’m filling every stadium,’” Mas says. “And in his mind, it’s like, we’re killing it, we’re helping the league, and they can’t move fast. It’s almost embarrassing.”

MLS still isn’t sure what it wants its future to look like — or how to get there

A big part of the book dives into how Messi’s arrival shaped conversations in MLS boardrooms. After just two years in Miami, league owners voted to flip the calendar to better sync up with the global transfer windows. They are expected to change the competition structure, as well. The last thing to decide, however, is the most important: the roster rules. On that issue, MLS remains undecided. In the penultimate chapter of the book, MLS commissioner Don Garber says the league doesn’t necessarily need to, “tear up the playbook and start again.” “You might evolve your playbook, but the basic plan of smart, strategic and thoughtful, collaborative investment is what got MLS to where it is today. And nobody believed we’d be here,” he says. He might be right, but there are others in the room who believe tearing things down and starting anew is exactly what MLS should do. The changes are still being debated in the boardroom. With a collective bargaining agreement set to expire in January 2028, in the middle of the league’s first summer-spring season format, and a new commissioner likely to be hired in coming years, there are enormous factors that will influence that decision. Messi’s impact may be more lasting in Miami than in MLS

While MLS is still debating the last and most important piece in its evolution — and the decision that will have the biggest impact on how we talk about Messi’s legacy in MLS — Jorge and Jose Mas and Beckham are more certain in how they will ensure the legendary No. 10’s place at Inter Miami. Advertisement

Messi’s ownership stake isn’t just about compensation. It links Messi to Inter Miami in perpetuity, much in the same way Beckham remains an important ambassador and spokesperson for MLS two decades after signing. Inter Miami’s ownership group wanted to ensure that when people thought about Messi, they didn’t think about just Barcelona and Argentina, but their club too. Signs of that permanence are apparent already. The Lionel Messi Stand at Nu Stadium. Messi’s youth soccer tournament. They want Messi to be an active owner, involved in sporting decisions and in the day-to-day decisions of the club. That’s a way to ensure Messi’s legacy in Miami extends well beyond when his contract runs out. “His impact has got to last forever, and if it doesn’t, then we failed,” Jose Mas says. The Messi Effect: How the Global Legend Changed the Future of American Soccer comes out June 2 and is available wherever you buy your books.