How Lionel Messi became Miami’s billion-dollar economic engine

MIAMI—Nearly three years after arriving to play for this city’s Major League Soccer club, Lionel Messi has delivered on the field, leading Inter Miami to its first league championship last year and making it the MLS’s most valuable team.

Yet his impact reaches far beyond the pitch: He has been a one-man economic stimulus engine for the Miami area, boosting its international profile, drawing hordes of tourists and powering sectors including real estate, hospitality and retail.

The latest example of Messi’s economic pull: last week’s inauguration of the club’s new stadium, which Inter Miami raced to complete after his arrival. The 26,700-seat Nu Stadium, near Miami International Airport, is the centerpiece of the $1 billion, 131-acre Miami Freedom Park project that will eventually include more than one million square feet of retail, entertainment venues and office and hotel space.

Putting a dollar figure on what the Argentina native has meant to the South Florida economy is tricky. His arrival coincided with an influx of wealthy newcomers who have fueled spending. But people here calculate the impact in the billions of dollars, pointing to effects way beyond the new stadium and its surrounding development.

Messi, considered by many the greatest soccer player of all time, has helped cement Miami’s status as a center for soccer and other international sporting events. Nearby Miami Gardens hosted the final of the 2024 Copa América, which Argentina, with Messi as captain, won. The following year, the same stadium hosted eight matches for the FIFA Club World Cup, including two with Inter Miami. Now it is preparing for seven matches of the FIFA World Cup this summer.

Such events, together with others like the Formula One Miami Grand Prix, the Miami Open tennis championship and the World Baseball Classic, generate billions of dollars in economic activity, said Suzanne Amaducci, chair of the real-estate practice at Bilzin Sumberg, outside counsel to the FIFA World Cup 2026 Miami Host Committee. They also expose international visitors to area neighborhoods, restaurants and other attractions.

“With Messi, we really pivoted to an international fan and client,” Amaducci said. “The Messi effect exponentially grew this for us.”

Messi signed with Inter Miami months after winning the 2022 World Cup with Argentina in Qatar. In 2023, he led Inter Miami, which was at the bottom of the MLS table when he joined, to its first trophy, in the Leagues Cup. Last year, the team won its first-ever MLS Cup, becoming league champions.

Inter Miami’s valuation jumped to an estimated $1.45 billion in 2026—the highest in MLS—from $585 million in 2022, before Messi’s arrival, according to Sportico, a publication that conducts analyses of team values. Revenue was about $200 million last year, making it one of seven MLS teams to crack $100 million, the publication said.

Messi’s contract with Inter Miami includes guaranteed annual compensation of $20.4 million, according to the MLS Players Association. But the contract value is much higher because it includes an equity stake in the club once he retires. Last year, Messi signed a contract extension through the 2028 season.

From purely an economic perspective, his impact more than justifies his lofty contract. His presence fills stadiums not only at home but in cities where Inter Miami plays away matches. A March game against D.C. United in Baltimore drew more than 72,000 fans, setting a home attendance record for that team.

Messi has also bolstered Miami’s standing as a main hub for soccer in the U.S. In 2024, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, opened a new legal-and-compliance division office in the Miami area that had previously been housed at the association’s headquarters in Zurich.

FC Barcelona, the legendary Spanish club where Messi launched and spent most of his career, last year moved its U.S. commercial operations to Miami from New York.

This year, the Argentine Football Association is scheduled to unveil a new office and training complex in the Miami area to promote its brand in the U.S. Those plans had already been in the works, but when Messi signed with Inter Miami, they were hastened, said Leandro Petersen, the AFA’s chief commercial and marketing officer.

“His presence there strengthens the AFA brand—it strengthens everything we are doing,” Petersen said.

Messi has been a boon for South Florida real estate, according to agents and developers. He owns properties including a condo in Sunny Isles Beach and a waterfront home in Fort Lauderdale. Last year, he added to that portfolio with a contract for four condos at Cipriani Residences Miami, a short drive from the new stadium, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Messi’s purchases stimulate interest in the buildings where he buys and surrounding areas, said Kevin Venger, co-founder of developer One Thousand Group. David Beckham, co-owner of Inter Miami, bought a penthouse in one of Venger’s projects, One Thousand Museum, in 2020, and soon after, friends of his bought units, Venger said.

Real-estate agents have featured Messi and the coming World Cup in promotional materials for listings, said Miltiadis Kastanis, executive director of sales at Compass brokerage. He noted that international buyers account for a large portion of the South Florida market—nearly half of those for new construction, preconstruction and condo-conversion sales, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.

“International buyers are the ones that are truly die-hard soccer fans,” Kastanis said.

Messi has infused Miami with buzz, drawing more tourists to the area, said David Whitaker, chief executive of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. Last year, Miami-Dade County’s hotel occupancy rate was 74%—fourth-highest in the U.S., according to STR data compiled by the visitors bureau.

Those tourists, along with a newly rabid local fan base, have fueled revenue gains in the hospitality and food service sectors. Restaurants and bars added menu items bearing the superstar’s name, and murals of Messi blossomed on buildings around Miami.

Steve Turk, a partner at vacation rental company Tangy Management, said rentals in Miami are booking at higher rates on Inter Miami match weekends, especially within driving distance of the stadium. The upshot, he said: “More demand, stronger pricing and a new type of traveler entering the market almost overnight.”

At Grails Miami, a sports bar in the Wynwood neighborhood, watch parties for Inter Miami games fill the venue, which has more than 70 TVs and capacity for 400 people, general manager Lea Stevenson said. Customers wield big Messi head cutouts, and the bar offers a cocktail dubbed the Messi Mule. Stevenson said she doubles the staff on match days and sales are roughly triple the amount of those for nonmatch days.

“The impact financially is huge,” Stevenson said.

Write to Arian Campo-Flores at arian.campo-flores@wsj.com