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If you are not a soccer fan and you are trying to figure out how big this Lionel Messi to Inter Miami thing is, here is some impressive piece of data: The club's Instagram number of followers has gone from 900,000 people on Wednesday morning – when the first reports of the deal started to appear online – to over six million on Thursday afternoon.
That's more than FIVE MILLION new fans in about 30 hours.
We took a screenshot at 1:46 p.m. ET, about an hour before Messi confirmed the news and the count was 1.6M. On Thursday, 5:54 p.m. ET, the number was already at 6M.
To put things in perspective, just two days ago, the most followed team in MLS was LA Galaxy, with 1.5M fans.
Inter Miami just dwarfed the record and what's more incredible is that they now also have more followers than any NFL, MLB or NHL team. Inter Miami also have more followers than most NBA teams, except for Golden State Warriors (30.5M), Los Angeles Lakers (22.8M), Chicago Bulls (9.7M), Boston Celtics (7.5M) and Miami Heat (6.5M).
But social media following is not the only metric to understand the impact of Messi's announcement. According to an article published in The Athletic, ticket prices to see Inter Miami have soared up to 1,000%.
Game 3 NBA Final ticket prices in Miami: $416
Lionel Messi's (potential) first match for Inter Miami against Cruz Azul on July 21: $481Messi effect ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/jX6MmrGGm3
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) June 7, 2023
Investment of the year? Lionel Messi's move to Miami caused ticket prices to skyrocket over 1,000%
The lowest price for a ticket to Inter Miami's upcoming game against Cruz Azul on July 21 has jumped from $29 to $329, a 1,034% increase.Their game against the New York Red…
— Andrew Lokenauth (@FluentInFinance) June 8, 2023
Take, for example, the game against Cruz Azul on July 21, which many see as a possible debut date for Messi. On Monday, the average ticket price for the game was $120, but as today, the average cost is now about $1,250.
