Jun 08, 2023 at 05:37 PM ETNEW YORK — After two decades competing against Real Madrid, Manchester United and Brazil, Lionel Messi will be going against the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NBA.
Messi will join MLS at age 36 while Pelé was 34 and Beckham 32. Messi remains a regular with Argentina's national team and could play in next year's Copa América and perhaps the 2026 World Cup, both in the U.S. Attendance has increased from 2.8 million and an average of 17,400 in 1996 to 10 million and an average of 21,033 last year. Total attendance is up 28% this year and the average 7%.
Still, soccer lags other U.S. sports. The 272 NFL regular-season games averaged 16.7 million viewers across television and digital platforms last season and the league drew 18.8 million to stadiums, an average of 69,442. MLB drew 64.6 million, an average of 26,843. Messi, a World Cup and South American champion and a four-time Champions League winner, brings a wide appeal. He has 469 million Instagram followers, dwarfing the 22 million of the LA Galaxy's Javier Hernández, MLS's most-followed player.