Titanium100
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This is kinda of crazy bidding war and there seems to have been intense contract bidding between the two. The US is hosting the world cup in 2026 hence they need this kind of signings in order to promote the World cup for the next 3 years and the Saudis are planning to host the World Cup in 2030 hence they wanna get ahead of the competition and promote.
The Americans want a share on the promotion for their own world cup and this lead to bidding war over the signing of Messi.
Henry Bushnell
·Senior soccer reporter
Thu, 8 June 2023 at 9:12 pm CEST·5-min read
A mural depicting Argentine football player Lionel Messi is pictured in Miami on June 7, 2023. (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)
The Americans beat a massive Saudi contract offer that is almost estimated to be at 600 million per year in 2 year contract meaning 1.2 billion USD but the Americans found a way to top this contract via doing something entirely different. Saudi contract was the biggest contract ever offered in history.
Saudi Arabia had offered somewhere between $400 million and $600 million per year, according to reports
But the money will be good in Miami too, because MLS rules allow it to be good, and because various American companies will make it better.
Inter Miami, the oft-dysfunctional franchise owned by billionaire businessman Jorge Mas, will pay Messi a base salary that will almost certainly be the highest in MLS. 43-million USD per year.
And MLS, to be clear, does not have to bend its rules to allow this. They've already been changed on whims over the years. They were reshaped in 2007 to accommodate the league's first true celebrity, David Beckham. Now, 16 years later, a version of the Beckham Rule — now mostly known as the designated player (DP) rule — allows each team to spend limitlessly beyond the salary cap on three players.
Messi will make millions more than Inter Miami's current top earner, striker Josef Martinez ($4.4 million). The real value of his deal will be everything else.
According to various reports, the deal will include equity in the club, which was valued by Forbes in February at $600 million — a number that Messi himself should propel toward $1 billion.
It's unclear how big a stake Messi will receive, but those shares will bump the total value of the deal up to between $125 million and $150 million over two-and-a-half years, according to the Miami Herald. (The deal reportedly includes an option for an additional year, 2026, when the men's World Cup will be played in North America.)
Additionally, hand-in-hand with MLS, Adidas and Apple have discussed commercial arrangements with Messi. The Athletic reported Tuesday that Adidas — which has outfitted and sponsored MLS since its inception, and Messi since he was a teen — had offered Messi a share of any profits related to his MLS involvement.
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TL;DR version
The Saudis threw on Messi biggest contract offer in history 1.2 Billion USD in 2 years and the Americans replied to that offer by instead offering Messi shares of Adidas and Apple including shares of Inter Miami this sealed the deal. MLS knew they couldn't match the Saudi cash but instead came up with an smart alternative that worked
The Americans want a share on the promotion for their own world cup and this lead to bidding war over the signing of Messi.
How Inter Miami, MLS can afford Lionel Messi, and how they beat Saudi Arabia's wealth
Henry Bushnell
·Senior soccer reporter
Thu, 8 June 2023 at 9:12 pm CEST·5-min read
A mural depicting Argentine football player Lionel Messi is pictured in Miami on June 7, 2023. (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)
The Americans beat a massive Saudi contract offer that is almost estimated to be at 600 million per year in 2 year contract meaning 1.2 billion USD but the Americans found a way to top this contract via doing something entirely different. Saudi contract was the biggest contract ever offered in history.
Saudi Arabia had offered somewhere between $400 million and $600 million per year, according to reports
But the money will be good in Miami too, because MLS rules allow it to be good, and because various American companies will make it better.
Inter Miami, the oft-dysfunctional franchise owned by billionaire businessman Jorge Mas, will pay Messi a base salary that will almost certainly be the highest in MLS. 43-million USD per year.
And MLS, to be clear, does not have to bend its rules to allow this. They've already been changed on whims over the years. They were reshaped in 2007 to accommodate the league's first true celebrity, David Beckham. Now, 16 years later, a version of the Beckham Rule — now mostly known as the designated player (DP) rule — allows each team to spend limitlessly beyond the salary cap on three players.
Messi will make millions more than Inter Miami's current top earner, striker Josef Martinez ($4.4 million). The real value of his deal will be everything else.
According to various reports, the deal will include equity in the club, which was valued by Forbes in February at $600 million — a number that Messi himself should propel toward $1 billion.
It's unclear how big a stake Messi will receive, but those shares will bump the total value of the deal up to between $125 million and $150 million over two-and-a-half years, according to the Miami Herald. (The deal reportedly includes an option for an additional year, 2026, when the men's World Cup will be played in North America.)
Additionally, hand-in-hand with MLS, Adidas and Apple have discussed commercial arrangements with Messi. The Athletic reported Tuesday that Adidas — which has outfitted and sponsored MLS since its inception, and Messi since he was a teen — had offered Messi a share of any profits related to his MLS involvement.
-----------------------------------------------
TL;DR version
The Saudis threw on Messi biggest contract offer in history 1.2 Billion USD in 2 years and the Americans replied to that offer by instead offering Messi shares of Adidas and Apple including shares of Inter Miami this sealed the deal. MLS knew they couldn't match the Saudi cash but instead came up with an smart alternative that worked
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