Inter Miami F Lionel Messi has “helped cement Miami’s status as a center for soccer and other international sporting events,” according to Arian Campo-Flores of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Miami Gardens hosted the final of the 2024 Copa América, eight matches for the FIFA Club World Cup and is now preparing for seven matches of the FIFA World Cup this summer. Messi has also “bolstered Miami’s standing as a main hub for soccer in the U.S.” In 2024, 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. La Liga club FC Barcelona, the club where Messi launched and spent most of his career, last year moved its U.S. commercial operations to Miami from N.Y. 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.” Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO David Whitaker said that Messi has “infused Miami with buzz, drawing more tourists to the area” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/11).
