Today, Explained - America is so Messi

Episode Date: August 25, 2023

With Lionel Messi, footy may have finally arrived in the United States. The Athletic’s Tom Bogert and Men in Blazers founder Roger Bennett explain how the Argentine superstar is transforming American soccer. This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Serena Solin, engineered by Cristian Ayala, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just before the Men's World Cup kicked off last year, we had footie fanatic Roger Bennett on Today Explained. Noel asked him who was going to win the tournament. He said Brazil was the favorite, but… I think the story going into the World Cup is that of Argentina. He called it about Argentina and Lionel Messi. That does not make me a genius. He is the single greatest footballer the world has ever seen.

It was only a matter of time. But we called him back to tell him he was wrong about something else. He said America would finally become a fully realized soccer-loving nation in 2026, around the time of the next Men's World Cup. But with the arrival of Messi, it looks like that moment's already here. God, if that makes me wrong, I'm so delighted to be wrong, Sean. Lionel Messi, week in, week out, is creating transcendent alchemy on fields in this nation from sea to shining sea. Things are getting messy in America, and soccer's starting to look a lot like football.

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and authorized gaming partner of the NBA. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Halima Shaw passes to Hadi Mawaddi. Hadi passes to Noel King. She cuts. Oh my! It's today! Explain! Ramos for him we got Roger Bennett coming up in the second half but we're going to kick things off with Tom Bogert from the Athletic I asked him how messy he's been doing since joining Major League Soccer at Inter Miami it's gonna dumb, and I promise I'm actually an expert on this stuff,

but it's still somehow taking you by surprise the greatest player of all time has been the greatest player of all time immediately. Like, a month ago, there were real questions about whether the team was going to be good enough around him. Miami, right now, sitting in last place, are they going to be good enough around him. Miami right now sitting in last place. Are they going to be playing in the playoffs? No.

No? Not a chance. Not a chance. No. Really? Yeah, it's a learning time. It's learning time. Whether he was going to be from minute one ready to go or how long an integration period

might take. And then his first game when everybody thought he might play five minutes, ten minutes off the bench because he just took a month off after, you know, a year in which he won the World Cup and played a lot in France and played a lot for the national team. He had like three or four training sessions with Miami. They thought maybe he'd be good for 10 minutes. In front of over 22,000.

In front of LeBron James, Serena Williams, Kim Kardashian. Nope, he played 35 minutes. Here it is. And Messi! Messi! With a defense! And the other way! Magnificent!

Because, of course, that's how he announced his interest to this league. And then going down the line in this tournament, the League's Cup, scoring in, I believe, every game. Blaine O'Messi around Zimmerman. Messi! He is inevitable! And he is inevitable! And Inter-Miami lead 1-0!

Ten goals or whatever, he's top five all-time in Inter-Miami goals already, and he has not yet played a league in. Miami had, I think, something like a million or less than a million social media followers on Instagram before Messi signed, and within 24 hours, they were the most followed American professional sports team, I believe. Wow. And just like for people who don't know anything about his game or like why he matters so much what would you say uh to someone like who just beamed down from you know like venus and was like what's the deal with this guy why is everyone so hyped about him what would you say to that person leno messi is the greatest player of all time he is the favorite to win the ballon d'or which is

like the mvp across all soccer leagues in the world for the calendar year. Eight months ago, he won the World Cup and was named the best player. He won the biggest tournament there is to win in soccer and was named the very best player in the world at that tournament. That's the moment for Argentina, but for Lionel Messi. A moment that cements his legacy as the greatest of all time. And a moment that will be a legacy as the greatest of all time. And a moment that will be in memory for not just him,

but for Argentina and millions and billions around the world. How big a deal was that for him? He spoke about this as well, that it kind of took a weight off his shoulders. That was the only trophy that was eluding him. I achieved everything with the national team as I always dreamed of. I achieved everything in my career at Barcelona on a personal level too. Winning the World Cup was closing my career in a unique way. He won everything as a player for Barcelona. He won every individual award you could imagine.

He won the biggest title there is to win for a soccer player. Every single event he has ever played in, except for the French Cup, he has won. It is insane. He's a serial winner. And the World Cup was just the cherry on top to enshrine him as the greatest of all time. How do you go from being enshrined as the GOAT to joining a team in Miami in a league that isn't known for, you know, sporting a lot of stars? You want to enjoy your soccer. You want to move on in your career. This is what I was looking for when I made the decision with my family, to enjoy it once more as I've done my whole career after two difficult years. The truth is, we had it rough.

And he spoke about when he left Barcelona, he didn't want to leave. Yes, that is the truth, that I was excited about the prospect of returning to Barcelona. That club was forced to lose him because of how terribly mismanaged their finances were. And the only realistic option was to go to PSG in France. He wasn't ready to leave. He didn't want to leave, and he spoke about that. But on the other hand, after seeing what I experienced, after leaving the club, I didn't want to be in the same position again, waiting for what would happen and leaving my future in other people's hands.

This was a decision that he's made over a long course of time. He's wanted to come to Miami. He wanted to be part of this league and move the league forward and have this lifestyle and have this kind of chapter at the end of his career. And that was something that he thought about. It's something he wanted. This was not a snap decision. It's been in the works for a very long time. So he's at peace.

He's happy. But as luck would have it, we're in a place where we're happy, not just because of the results on the pitch, but because of the everyday life with my wife, with my kids, our lifestyle and the way we spend our time. Truth is, we're enjoying this moment very much. It was striking to me, the quotes that he's had and what a World Cup title really has done to both his psyche, to the way that he presents himself, speaks to people. He's visibly lighter with this kind of pressure off of his shoulders, this one trophy that he had been chasing forever. So I think that this is part of his final deal with Inter Miami.

What do we know for sure? We know that this is a unique one-of-one deal for a one-of-one player. So Inter Miami are paying him between $30 and and 50 million, I believe. And those figures will become public at some point. The Major League Soccer Players Association releases them for every single player. I'm rich! The rest of this deal, where MLS could even kind of compete with Saudi money, and let's be clear, they couldn't completely compete. The last offer that Messi turned down to go play in the Saudi Arabian Professional Football Soccer League was a three-year $1.6 billion contract.

$1.6 billion. That's a billion with a B. More than a billion dollars. More than a billion dollars. It's incomprehensible amounts of money that he turned down to come to Miami because he preferred the lifestyle and wanted to be here.

But the way that they could at least help make him whole a little bit here is he can buy a stake of the Inter-Miami franchise. So he'll become a minority owner when he retires. Adidas, his longtime sponsor, is a sponsor of Major League Soccer. He's going to get royalties from shirt sales and licensing ships. The details of the specific details there, I don't believe are public, but Adidas is helping. Did you know that Lionel Messi's Inter-Miami jersey is completely sold out? Adidas have stated that they cannot keep up with the overwhelming demand

with orders far surpassing their production capabilities. Apple TV is also helping. They are giving Messi a cut of all new subscribers to MLS season pass, the broadcasting for the league. So it's a unique opportunity. And it's, you know, I've had fans of other teams that complain, why can't Apple TV offer this to somebody for Orlando? Why did they do this for Miami? And the obvious answer is, this is a one of one player. There are no other deals like for Lionel Messi, because there are no other Lionel

Messis. Tell us about this team he's joining. What state were they in before he joined, and how quickly did their fortunes change after he joined? Inter-Miami were the worst team in the league before Lino Messi joined. They had a transfer ban that handcuffed them a little bit in their roster building. Another part is they had some injuries, and the third part is

they were holding significant roster resources open, hoping and planning that Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets were going to join this summer. And they did. And then they wanted to have maximum flexibility to add to the roster as they saw fit. They ended up undergoing a coaching change right before Messi came. The new coach came in. They signed Messi. They signed Busquets. They signed their former Barcelona teammate, Jordi Alba. So if you're counting at home, that's the best player of all time. Possibly the best defensive midfielder of all time. And possibly the best left back of all time.

All joined this team mid-season. And yeah, they went from the worst in the league to winning the first tournament that these players played at. And doing so in dominating styles at times. And then getting by with that kind of experience and quality that only some of these players really have. Someone from Philadelphia, you've got to stop Lionel Messi. From 30 yards in, all he needs is a gap, a half a yard, and you're going to be picking the ball out of the back of the net.

And what's the impact on the league? How is Messi's presence affecting the league as a whole? There's a whole lot more eyeballs on it. And the league is not going to be able to turn every single set of those eyeballs into lifelong fans. That's unrealistic. But even if they turn 10%, 20% of the people who are only tuning in, only paying attention because of Lionel Messi, if they turn them into 20% of the people who are only tuning in, only paying attention because

of Lionel Messi, if they turn them into full-time fans, long-term fans, this is beyond success. Messi has played two road games so far in Dallas and in Nashville. Tickets are out of control, and all the tickets that he's going to in the future are absolutely out of control. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars when he comes to Red Bull Arena to play the New York Red Bulls, when he goes to Chicago Fire, millions of dollars in revenue for these clubs. Outside of the direct monetary value that he's going to bring to the rest of the league in terms of club values and ticket prices and merchandise and all that stuff, he's also going to help drive the conversation to loosen roster and spending restrictions in this league.

MLS is unique to global soccer and having not just a salary cap, but a very kind of strict set of rules and rules that are kind of always changing and difficult to follow along with. Messi has helped reignite the debate as to whether they should be loosening the restrictions, whether the training was to go off, whether they should start throwing money like this at, you know, there is no other messy, but hey, there's a whole lot of other really good stars in the world that maybe, maybe teams see that, oh, it is worth it if we spend $20 million on a player or $10 million or whatever it is. So I'm very curious to see his lasting legacy. David Beckham's lasting legacy for me was that he helped push the infrastructure forward. He accelerated that progress a great deal.

The hotels teams were staying at before Beckham got here were a joke. The meals they had, the playing services, training facilities, stadiums, all this have been built, maybe not 100% directly because ofid beckham but he helped accelerate that evolution so that's his legacy to get the league to the point in talent and infrastructure that it was ready for messi and now messi has a chance to make his legacy that the quality of this league can finally really take off and and fan interest can can come with it and is he going to win the mls cup on the way he's got to get there first and i that's my favorite storyline for the rest of the season.

Inter-Miami are 14 points below the playoff line with 12 games left. Every single game is going to be like a final. They have to win probably nine, maybe eight, depending on other results.

But there is going to be no game that's like, oh yeah, you can just rest him here. Or like, this doesn't matter. Who cares? Like every single game is going to have stakes from again,

from his debut a month ago in a knockout tournament through whenever his season ends. And that's, it's must watch TV, man. Just plain and simple. Well, you know what the Argentinians are known for, right, Tom? What are they known for? Stakes.

Perfect. Perfect. Tom Bogert is a staff writer at The Athletic. Find his stuff at theathletic.com. Finally turning soccer into football in a minute on Today Explained. Support for Today Explained comes from Aura. Aura believes that sharing pictures is a great way to keep up with family. And Aura says it's never been easier thanks to their digital picture frames. They were named the number one digital photo frame by Wirecutter.

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Today, Explain is back and we're joined by Roger Bennett, founder of the Men in Blazers Media Empire. Roger, how long has the United States been on this journey to realize this dream of footy maybe being half as popular here as it is abroad? I think you have to go back to the Boston Tea Party, that rejection of all things European. I think you can make that case. Yeah, I think you could say there's a moment, 1930, the very first World Cup. The United States men got into the semifinalsals we don't talk about that achievement enough we do have a rich and remarkable football history that flows in our blood but the game of football never really developed collegiate roots which has been critical for all serious american sports and during the great depression it was an immigrant sport played out with Greek

teams playing against Italian-rooted teams, playing against Jewish-rooted teams, German-rooted teams. And during the Great Depression, those leagues just folded. And so the history of football in this nation has always been there, but it's been one of booms and busts of false dawns, great prophecies. Everyone remembers Pele coming to these shores in the 1970s, and it felt like soccer was like a Frisbee or a pogo stick or a yo-yo, just a great fad sweeping the nation. The roots were never deep enough. Our women's team, you know, won back-to-back World Cup.

There's often been just a delirious dream team, but on the men's side, the side of which we've always dreamed of becoming world champions, we've often been just a delirious dream team. But on the men's side, the side of which we've always dreamed of becoming world champions, we've often been far away. 1994, the World Cup was meant to put the sport over the top. Instead, its growth has been slow and steady and remarkable. Really, soccer, the perfect sport for the internet age

in the same way as the NFL bloomed in the golden age of television andomed in the golden age of television and baseball in the golden age of radio before that. So it's been, all I can say, it's been a bloody long time. You know, you mentioned Pele briefly, and of course Beckham showed up in the United States too at some point. Yes.

Has this strategy of building American football around a star been the wrong approach? Or does Messi's popularity and sort of game-changing arrival signify that it was the right approach, but maybe it needed to happen at the right time? Yeah, I wasn't here for Pele, so it's hard for me. I didn't witness it firsthand. I was for David Beckham. It was remarkable. These things just take time. We're not just competing against the NFL and the NBA for bandwidth, but Americans love the best. They love the best. It's what they do. They love the dream team. They love Charles Barkley leaping what they do. They love the dream team. They love Charles Barkley leaping up to dunk on a

hapless Angolan opponent in the Olympics. Delboeing him on the side of the head as he dunks when the US are already 50 points up. That's what we love. We love the best. We love biblical smitings. And the best happens to take place in England,

in the Premier League, in the Champions League on the men's side, in other nations. And it's hard for us to realize that at this point in time, MLS is not the best. So what I'd say is all of it, a star can do nothing on their own that's permanent, but the context is what's changed. The internet has connected Americans

to Liverpool, to Arsenal. They can follow along every single injury, every single rumor as closely as if they're at the same zip code. There's fans who live and die by that team. There's streaming. There's more football available to watch live in the United States now than if I lived in England. So all of these things play their part.

There is that deep convergence now, and it's truly robust. It's magical. It's not a fad. And Messi coming is possibly the crown jewel, the most radiant light, the most powerful spotlight that the game could cast upon itself. And watching it these past couple of weeks has been, it's honestly,

it's been something that I have to pinch myself as I watch Messi on our shores, humiliating our defenders. I have to just pinch myself and say, oh my God, it really is real and it's magnificent. It sounds like you might buy into an argument that I see being made a lot online in group chats with my friends, which is that Messi's arrival to the United States is actually just embarrassing because it shows you how inferior the rest of MLS is. Do you feel that way?

I think that argument is slightly bollocks, if I'm allowed to say that on your beautiful podcast. Lionel Messi, yes, is embarrassing MLS defenders with his play. Lionel Messi is the greatest player of his generation he's embarrassed defenders everywhere he goes in Paris Paris Saint-Germain he humiliated defenders at will when Lionel Messi hit the the goal record for an individual Budweiser did an incredible campaign where they sent the goal number that Messi scored on the front of a beer can to the goalkeepers who had conceded that goal. Someone had got crates of beer. Someone had played Messi a lot and conceded goals to him a lot. And all of them posted on their Instagram, these cans with pride. They

weren't humiliated. They were honored to be humiliated by Lionel Messi. And I'd almost look at it that way. And the most remarkable thing about it is that Lionel Messi is now embarrassing people on our shores. Lionel Messi is now Florida, man. That I can't get over. That's genuinely, that's the most remarkable part of all of this for me. There's so much joy over his arrival in Miami. You can feel it online. You can feel it in the United States. I did some traveling this summer and I'm seeing messy inter-Miami jerseys in Europe. People are actually wearing American football jerseys in Western Europe. Is there anyone who isn't excited about this news or is everyone just stoked? I imagine there's one person who's probably

hating every single second of it and it's cristiano ronaldo who i imagine is like hate eating an extra almond and then doing a hundred angry chin-ups in a very tight pair of underpants while being fanned with a large feather by an assistant who's quaking in fear wondering when this temper tantrum will go away it will never go away because lino messi this is the most remarkable thing. The goals are unbelievable. What is it? As we speak, 10 goals in seven games.

My word, what a start for Lionel Messi in his Major League Soccer career. Yes, some of the goals are embarrassing defenders, embarrassing goalkeepers. Joseph Martinez settles Messi. Some of the goals are umber bloody legal. There was a goal at the weekend.

He was playing Nashville. Five Nashville defenders tried to shut him down. I saw it. Incredible. They could not

have been closer to him if they were like genuine if he was wearing them as clothing and somehow he was able to find a crevice of space and work out honestly genuinely Oppenheimer would not have been able to do this calculation in physics as quickly as Lionel Messi did to work out the exact

angle trajectory wind speed and fire the ball right into the corner it was delicious so some of the goals are utterly transcendent, but the thing that I love most of all, Sean, is how much Lionel Messi is clearly loving all of this. This is a man who is a god that walks amongst us. We've seen footage of him walking around Argentina, surrounded by thousands of people mobbing it immediately. He's like public property. People feel they can grab him, they can kiss him, they can just violate the poor man. To watch football is to understand humanity, to understand how humans propel themselves, motivate themselves, experience glory, experience failure, humiliation, tenacity, perseverance, collective empathy.

All of these things are playing out in the greatest telenovela that's playing out live before your eyes. What can be better than that show? Roger Bennett, he's got podcasts, Search for Men in Blazers. He's also got a weekly show on YouTube all about Lionel called This Week in the Messyverse. Hadi Mawagdi produced, Amina Alsadi edited, Serena Solon fact-checked, and Christian Ayala mixed this episode of Today Explained. you