Six years were enough for the pharaonic Inter Miami project to be crowned MLS champion. The first match was played in 2020, but its origin dates back to the arrival of David Beckham to the league in 2007. The signing of Lionel Messi, two and a half years ago, did the rest.
Inter Miami won the first MLS Cup – the title that defines the MLS champion – in its short history after defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1 in the final. He did it in his stadium and after a record postseason in which he scored twenty goals in six games.
But balancing the accounts of this galactic squad, which in addition to Messi also included Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Luis Suárez and Rodrigo De Paul, was not easy, taking into account that the MLS imposes a salary limit on its teams.
Inter Miami spent almost $50 million on its players’ payroll in the recently concluded season, according to data from the MLS Players Association, far exceeding the salary cap of almost six million established by the MLS, with a maximum of $743,750 per player.
This is almost $30 million more than the league average, about $20 million more than the next team on the list, LAFC, and about $33 million more than the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Only between Messi (20.45 million), Busquets (8.78 million) and Alba (6 million), Inter Miami surpassed the salaries of the rest of the MLS teams. The Argentine star earned more than 20 clubs in the league.
To get around this limit, the MLS makes financial tools available to Inter Miami and the rest of the teams that make it easier for them to sign players or retain talent.
This is the case of the designated players – which on the Miami team were Messi, Busquets and Alba – and who can earn a salary that does not fully count against the salary cap.
In addition, Suárez’s salary (1.5 million) could be increased through funds that the MLS distributes among the teams each year to allow them to improve their squads, while the signing of De Paul, through a loan with a buyback option, allowed his contract to be deferred until next year, when two designated player spots become free due to the retirement of Alba and Busquets.
You may be interested: The logo of Messi’s brand will dress Inter Miami next season
David Beckham, the MLS revolutionary
The origin of this form of financial engineering dates back to 2007, when the MLS was a developing and not very attractive league that attracted the attention of David Beckham, current co-owner of Inter Miami.
The charismatic English star signed that year for the Los Angeles Galaxy, with whom he would win two MLS Cups (2011 and 2012), and was the reason that the MLS created the “designated player” exception, allowing him to earn a high enough salary without having to lift the salary cap.
This opened the door to the landing in the MLS of numerous European stars such as Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic or the current Thomas Müller and Heung-min Son, in addition to the aforementioned Messi in the summer of 2023.
Beckham’s contract with the Galaxy also included a clause that would allow him to acquire an expansion league team for $25 million in the future.
This became effective in 2018, when the Englishman founded Inter Miami together with local businessmen Jorge Mas and José Mas. That initial investment of 25 million dollars has today been transformed into a club valued at more than 1,000 million.
Additionally, the team’s recent success made Beckham the first person to win the MLS Cup as both a player and an owner.
Don’t miss: Inter Miami launches its own car license plate to bring its football to the rest of the US
The Messi factor
Although Inter Miami was born as a project with big dreams that played its first official match in 2020, its path to the MLS title suffered numerous setbacks.
The signings of Gonzalo Higuaín and Blaise Matuidi in the second part of the 2020 season gave the team a leap in quality, but they were only enough to reach the goals once in the first three years. playoffs.
It was not until 2023 when the history of the club completely changed, when the signing of a disenchanted Messi after his time at Paris Saint-Germain and who could not return to FC Barcelona was achieved.
Economically, the value of the team doubled in just two and a half years. According to Forbes calculations, Inter Miami’s value was around $600 million before his signing, and in May it rose to $1.2 billion.
While on the field, the arrival of Messi, followed by Busquets and Alba a few days later, gave Inter Miami the first title in its history just a month later: the 2023 Leagues Cup.
Before the following campaign, Suárez would arrive, who helped the club finish as champion of the MLS regular season, although the year ended with an unexpected failure by falling in the first round of playoffsand last summer De Paul would join, before the Club World Cup.
With information from EFE
Follow us on Google News to always stay informed