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Messi-Mania Comes To LA And Ticket Prices Soar. Will He Play?
Lionel Messi and Messi-mania are headed to L.A. Expect all the talk between now and then to be about soaring ticket prices, his pay — and whether he'll actually play.
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Tim Nwachukwu
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Los Angeles is in the throes of Messi-mania as the highly ranked Los Angeles Football Club prepares to take on the Inter Miami club at BMO Stadium this Sunday.
Local fans who can afford it have been shelling out big bucks — very big — in the hopes of seeing Miami’s newly signed mega-superstar, Lionel Messi.
“In terms of him coming to Los Angeles, I mean, it’s huge,” said Robert Jalón, an L.A.-based writer for the website Last Word On Sports.
Before Messi joined Major League Soccer last month, local game tickets could be had for under a $100 bucks, Jalón said.
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“Now they’re sitting around a little under $800,” he said. “And so everyone wants to be there, everyone wants to go see him play.”
Travis Helwig, who produces the LAFC-related Happy Foot Sad Foot podcast, said he was floored by the asking prices he’s seeing for Sunday’s game.
“I mean, like the cheapest tickets in the section where I have season tickets is $1,200," Helwig said. "That’s like a Super Bowl ticket.”
But there’s a possible catch to this weekend’s game: Messi is set to play for Argentina’s national team next week, as that team prepares to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. This has led to some speculation in sports media that the 36-year-old might be kept off the field in L.A. to avoid burnout.
“It’s possible that he might want to rest for that game, before he goes to Argentina,” Helwig said.
However, “if you were to ask me to bet, I think he’s going to play — maybe he’ll come off the bench or something,” Helwig said. “This is such an important game for the league, because we’re the best team, and he’s the best player to ever play.”
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He's the celebrity that the celebrities take pictures of: Inter Miami CF co-owner David Beckham, next to his wife, Victoria Beckham, and their daughter, Harper, appear to be watching Messi's every move during a match earlier this year.
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Not to mention that if Messi sat out the game, L.A. soccer fans would be deeply disappointed, said Jalón, who also thinks Messi will join his teammates on the field.
“Messi is the big draw,” he said. “You know, you can’t really justify paying $800 and then not being able to see him.”
Not just those high rollers, but “even the people that aren’t at stadiums, and watching at bars and stuff like that. They’re going to be there and invested. If he doesn’t play, it’s going to be a huge letdown.”
And not just because they’d miss a chance to see Messi, Jalón said, but “because they won’t be able to say, A, that we played against Messi, and B, we beat him, potentially.”
Because even if star-struck, L.A. fans are still just that — L.A. fans.
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