Lionel Messi’s 2024 season debut in the friendly match between Inter Miami and El Salvador only sold 30% of tickets, putting the organizers at risk of heavy losses.

Lionel Messi’s 2024 season debut is selling out – Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Lionel Messi could not attract the audience to the field

Contrary to tradition, wherever the name Messi appears, the place is always sold out because of his charisma. But the upcoming debut of the Argentine superstar is falling into a slump.

On January 12, Everardo Herrera – a North American media company – said that selling only 30% of the tickets means the organizers will lose money.

From January to February 2024, Inter Miami scheduled 7 matches in just 27 days. The first match is to El Salvador to play against the country’s national team. According to the request, Messi must play for at least 20 minutes.

Therefore, the organizers need to sell tickets to make a profit. However, with 30% of tickets sold in the context of only 7 days left until this match (taking place on January 19), the organizers are certainly under a lot of pressure.

Tickets are sold out because the price is too high, but it’s not necessarily true that Lionel Messi is ‘cooling off’

In fact, the reason for the lack of tickets is not necessarily because Messi is losing his appeal, but because the ticket prices are too high.

Specifically, tickets will be divided into 5 different classes from 200 USD, 250 USD, 275 USD, 375 USD to 475 USD. It is expected that if all tickets are sold out, the organizers can achieve a revenue of 7 million USD. However, with the current gloomy situation, the organizing committee faces the risk of heavy losses.

Meanwhile, El Salvador is not a rich country. This is a small country with a population of only 6.3 million people and a GDP per capita of less than 5,000 USD. To fill a stadium with a capacity of 20,000 to 30,000 spectators in such a context is too difficult.