“Without doubt, MLS has more global awareness than at any other time in our history and has more legitimacy in the United States because of David,” MLS commissioner Don Garber told the New York Times in November 2007. That supercharged growth is largely thanks to Beckham. In 2023, MLS has 29 teams - including newcomers St Louis City SC – with a 30th on the way in San Diego. They chose a more reasonable path of financial prudence, one that helped keep the league alive for nearly twice as long as the NASL ever existed. From the wreckage of the NASL, the founders of Major League Soccer - some of whom had also owned NASL clubs - learned their own lessons. Though the NASL collapsed, the kids who watched Pele during his three-year stay in the United States became the U.S.’s first great generation of soccer players, the pioneers who qualified for the 1990 World Cup and featured four years later in the 1994 edition of the tournament on home soil. In the United States, you have a chance to win an entire country over and be a soccer missionary. In the 1970s, when Cosmos president Clive Toye approached the Brazilian in an attempt to lure him to the States, he made a fairly simple pitch - you’ve won many games and many trophies. Pele’s impact, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was generational. His outsized impact on the Cosmos inspired an upward trend in spending that would eventually contribute to the demise of the league in 1984. What Pele could not do, however, was save the NASL. Think about it this way: after his departure, there were some teams in the league whose attendance for an entire season was lower than what the Cosmos drew for a single game during Pele’s tenure.Īway matches featuring the Cosmos became featured attractions his presence attracted other giants of the game to the NASL - George Best, Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller and more. Three times, the Cosmos drew over 70,000 fans to watch Pele at Giants Stadium, an unheard of feat in that era. Pele’s mere presence with the Cosmos certainly had some short-term benefits: the club’s average home attendance increased from around 3,500 fans in 1975 to around 45,000 by the time of his departure after the 1977 season. For a brief time, it appeared as though they might succeed. The Cosmos, backed by the corporate might of media empire Warner Communications, were seeking to do what no other soccer club in American history has ever done: make soccer truly, deeply relevant in this country. The Brazilian legend famously joined the New York Cosmos of the nascent North American Soccer League in 1975. No single player in the history of American men’s soccer has had as seismic an effect on the trajectory of the game in this country as Pele. Maybe the biggest threat to any MLS deal came from Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal, who offered a reported $400 million per year for Messi’s services. Paris St-Germain made their own attempts to keep Messi, and Barcelona made a play as well. Miami, of course, were not the only ones interested. The league’s commissioner, Don Garber, said in March that the league was prepared to get creative to lure Messi, a once-in-a-lifetime talent. In 2021, Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas told The Athletic, “David and I are working very hard at making something like that happen, which I think is not only transformational for Miami, but I think for the league.”Īcross MLS, others mirrored his sentiment. Over the past six years, Miami’s ownership has never shied away from their interest. No player transaction in MLS history has ever been rife with as much drama and uncertainty as Messi’s move to Miami. Is Miami ready for Lionel Messi? The luxury penthouses, temporary stadium, fans and doubters.Messi’s Inter Miami move causes ticket price surge throughout MLS.What can Messi expect from Inter Miami?.Why Messi didn’t return to Barcelona – despite both wanting a deal.Undoubtedly, he will be the highest-paid player in the history of MLS. Messi will reportedly get a piece of MLS and Apple’s broadcast partnership, and Adidas, among the league’s oldest sponsors, is also said to be chipping in to bring the Argentine to Miami. Miami and MLS have laid out a king’s ransom for the recent World Cup champion, who many peg as the greatest player in the history of the game.
It took a lot more than a friendly invitation to get the Argentine superstar stateside, though.
Six years later, Messi’s video message has come to fruition, as he announced that he will sign for Inter Miami despite offers from Saudi Arabia and Barcelona. “Who knows, maybe in a few years you will give me a call,” Messi concluded after congratulating Beckham on the new project.
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