{"id":20844,"date":"2026-01-18T17:10:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T17:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T17:10:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T17:10:28","slug":"surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprising MLS rating after joining Messi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"capital-letter\">D<\/span>Despite being the biggest player in world soccer, MLS faces a statistical reality that surprises sports analysts and focuses on everything surrounding the world of sports and entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>While Lionel Messi has boosted Inter Miami&#8217;s revenue, the league&#8217;s fan base continues to struggle to integrate, showing unexpected similarities to much smaller leagues such as Unrivaled, according to recent financial and audience reports.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ue-c-article__summary\">\n<figure class=\"ue-c-article__media ue-c-article__media--video  video-dailymotion\"><figcaption class=\"ue-c-article__media-caption\" itemprop=\"description\">\n<p><span class=\"ue-c-article__media-description\">Antonella Roccuzzo captures Miami&#8217;s attention with new Instagram post<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ue-c-article__subheadline\">Messi&#8217;s financial success and royal audience<\/h2>\n<p>The economic impact of the Argentine star&#8217;s arrival in 2024 is undeniable. Inter Miami managed to generate a staggering $180 million in revenue and became a powerhouse in the league. Thanks to this boost, Apple TV&#8217;s subscriber numbers doubled and sponsorships increased by 13%.<\/p>\n<p>But the airplay numbers behind those million-dollar numbers tell a more conservative story. MLS Season Pass averaged just 120,000 viewers per game during the 2025 season, according to data from commissioner Don Garber. The figures revealed the true reach of soccer on premium streaming platforms, especially when compared to new projects in other sports.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"ue-c-article__subheadline\">Comparison with Unrivaled and Minor League Crisis<\/h2>\n<p>The most striking comparison is with Unrivaled, a women&#8217;s 3&#215;3 basketball league that recently began its second season. Cable TV viewership is very similar to MLS viewership on Apple TV, despite being a much younger sports venue.<\/p>\n<p>Unrivaled averages between 71,000 and 175,000 viewers on its main days, while MLS remains in a similar range. This parity suggests that even with $2.5 billion in contracts and global superstars on the field, MLS has yet to make a decisive leap into American mass audiences and faces the same headwinds as leagues trying to survive in their first or second years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/en\/football\/mls\/2026\/01\/18\/696d0cebe2704e11208b45a2.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DDespite being the biggest player in world soccer, MLS faces a statistical reality that surprises sports analysts and focuses on everything surrounding the world of sports and entertainment. While Lionel Messi has boosted Inter Miami&#8217;s revenue, the league&#8217;s fan base continues to struggle to integrate, showing unexpected similarities to much smaller leagues such as Unrivaled,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Surprising MLS rating after joining Messi - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Surprising MLS rating after joining Messi - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DDespite being the biggest player in world soccer, MLS faces a statistical reality that surprises sports analysts and focuses on everything surrounding the world of sports and entertainment. While Lionel Messi has boosted Inter Miami&#8217;s revenue, the league&#8217;s fan base continues to struggle to integrate, showing unexpected similarities to much smaller leagues such as Unrivaled,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-18T17:10:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/\",\"name\":\"Surprising MLS rating after joining Messi - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/17687545366146.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-18T17:10:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/17687545366146.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/17687545366146.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/surprising-mls-rating-after-joining-messi\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Surprising MLS rating after joining Messi\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. 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