Lionel Messi is causing an enormous uprise in the MLS

Question

The Major Soccer League (MLS), set a new season attendance record with over 11 million fans that have already attended this season, with a striking 16 game still left before the MLS Cup Playoffs. The arrival of the world class Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi in July of 2023 has played a crucial role in the remarkably enormous changes in MLS attendees.

Answer 1

After reviewing the article and investigating the secondary sources, it seems that Lionel Messi's signing to Inter Miami has in fact played a major role in Miami's attendance but not the MLS attendance as the title claims. Firstly Messi's signing increased Inter Miami fan attendance from 2nd to last in 2022, to 2nd most in 2024, showing his presence had a major impact. Secondly, Messi participated in two of the top 3 most viewed MLS games this season, those being Miami vs Kansas City and Miami vs New England Revolution. But just because of Inter Miami's success that doesn't correlate to MLS's success. 

According to this article posted by MLS.com, "The arrival of international stars and the work from clubs to create more unique, fan-friendly ticket packages and Matchday experiences are among the key drivers of the continued surge of record-breaking attendance across MLS." They credit the record-high attendance to the arrival of multiple big stars and the clubs' efforts to become more fan-friendly.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-sets-all-time-record-for-regular-season-attendance

Comments

Could you mention and or link what about the secondary sources doesn't seem correct?

Answer 2

To start, the MLS has set an attendance record with over 11 million fans and more this season according to CNN, The Athletic, and many more sources. The average attendance is up to over 23,000 as last year in 2023, the attendance was sitting at just above 19,000 fans. Lionel Messi is also playing a crucial role in attendance and this statement being semi true, but there have been other factors too. According to the article, Messi effect: MLS hits home run with record-breaking attendance by Reuters, “Announcing the record on Monday, the league credited the recent arrivals of international superstars such as Inter Miami's Argentinian star forward Lionel Messi and the creation of more unique, fan-friendly ticket packages as key drivers of the continued growth.” The article said Lionel Messi had a part in it but not the whole reason. Another factor that played in was the new and more unique fan-friendly ticket packages. There have also been other international players joining Lionel Messi in the USA playing for MLS. Sports Illustrated says, “Superstar players like Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Marco Reus and Olivier Giroud are among the biggest names in MLS that kept fans coming back for more in 2024 to break last season's attendance record of 10,900,804 spectators.” Obviously these other players aren’t as big as Lionel Messi, but still have an impact on fans coming and seeing MLS teams play.  

 

 

https://www.si.com/soccer/mls-sets-regular-season-attendance-record

 

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5587245/2024/06/24/mls-attendance-rise/

 

https://www.dailysabah.com/sports/football/messi-effect-mls-hits-home-run-with-record-breaking-attendance

 

Comments

I really like the way that you presented the other variables that could have caused the increase in attendance. This claim made it very easy for me to think that Messi was the only reason for the increase. Its clear now that it's a multitude of changes that resulted in a greater attendance figure.

Answer 3

This is true, I found multiple sources that state the fact that MLS set a new attendance record with over 11 million fans, and 16 games are still left before the playoffs. Lionel Messi, who joined Inter Miami in July 2023, has played a huge part in this increase. His arrival brought more excitement and attention to MLS, drawing in many new fans and filling stadiums across the league. 

https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/mls-breaks-attendance-record-with-more-than-11m-fans-2024-10-07/

Major league soccer cites "Lionel Messi effect" in 2024 attendance records  

https://www.90min.com/posts/major-league-soccer-cites-lionel-messi-effect-in-2024-attendance-milestones

Comments

I wonder if these sources are valid as they both seem to have the same claims as the CNN article above. 90 minute is a primarily soccer based new platform, which could imply some bias for certain teams, players, etc. Reuters is a multi-subject platform, but a lot of their other articles have some clickbait and controversial/biased claims. I think it is important when researching to try not to run into confirmation bias when an article's title supports a claim.

Answer 4

Doing research for this particular and finding these articles to prove if this claim is accurate or not and I found this claim to be accurate as each article along with using a quote for each one to prove this claim and to show credibility. With also their data and research being used for each article this gives it more credibility as these are from official news and sporting outlets. This is not misinformation or disinformation at all as checking each source to verify the claim ever article I looked at shows the claim is accurate and true. 

www.cnn.com/2024/10/09/sport/mls-attendance-record-lionel-messi-spt-intl/index.html.

www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-sets-all-time-record-for-regular-season-attendance. Accessed 10 Oct. 2024.

www.aol.com/major-league-soccer-sets-time-101446770.html. Accessed 10 Oct. 2024.