00:00 In January, as Inter Miami arrived in El Salvador for its first preseason match of 2024, hundreds
00:06 of cheering fans greeted the team's convoy of pink buses, jostling past one another just
00:11 to catch a glimpse of arguably the most famous athlete on the planet, Lionel Messi.
00:16 Such an impassioned welcome in a foreign country would have been unimaginable eight months
00:21 ago when Inter Miami, one of the more recent additions to Major League Soccer, was a last
00:26 place club with little global recognition beyond its minority co-owner, David Beckham.
00:32 But all that changed in June, when Messi announced that South Florida would become his next soccer
00:36 home, forever altering the franchise's trajectory.
00:41 Forbes estimates Inter Miami is now MLS's second most valuable franchise at $1.03 billion,
00:48 and they're not the only ones reaping the benefits of Messi-mania.
00:51 Teams lucky enough to host games against Miami in 2023 scored massive gate revenue increases,
00:57 including the New York Red Bulls, Nashville SC, and the Chicago Fire, which drew over
01:02 62,000 fans to Soldier Field for a game in which Messi never actually played.
01:07 Those bumps, additional games from the inaugural League's Cup tournament, and a move by MLS
01:13 to decrease the ticket revenue it collects from teams helped power a 20% increase in
01:18 average revenue across the League to $66 million in 2023.
01:24 Also bolstering the League are the rising valuations across other American sports.
01:29 For ultra-high net worth individuals with dreams of owning a sports team, MLS remains
01:34 a cost-friendly option.
01:36 Forbes now estimates the average MLS club is worth $658 million, up 14% from a year
01:43 ago.
01:44 Here are Major League Soccer's top five most valuable clubs for 2024.
01:50 At number five is New York City FC, worth an estimated $850 million.
01:55 The club is majority owned by City Football Group, the parent company of English Premier
01:59 League powerhouse Manchester City.
02:02 But Yankee Global Enterprises, which is controlled by the Steinbrenner family, has a piece as
02:06 well.
02:07 NYC FC currently splits time between Yankee Stadium and Citi Field as its home venue,
02:13 and plans to move into a new, soccer-specific stadium in Queens in 2027.
02:19 Atlanta United ranks number four, worth an estimated $900 million.
02:24 The club, which is owned by Home Depot co-founder and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, had
02:29 an early playoff exit last season, but remains one of the best moneymakers in the sport.
02:34 Atlanta's $95 million in 2023 revenues is tied for third in the League with the LA Galaxy.
02:41 Speaking of the LA Galaxy, Philip Ann Schuetz's franchise ranks number three, worth an estimated
02:46 $950 million.
02:48 The Galaxy are one of the ten original MLS franchises, and the club has a rich history
02:52 that features stars like David Beckham, Landon Donovan, and Zlatan Ibrahimović.
02:57 In the past few years, the Galaxy have become preseason hosts for several clubs around the
03:01 League, as part of the Coachella Valley Invitational.
03:05 Inter Miami is now the second most viable MLS team, worth an estimated $1.03 billion
03:11 after a 72% bump from a year ago.
03:14 The franchise is the second in League history to achieve a billion-dollar valuation, following
03:19 in the cleated footsteps of LAFC.
03:22 A month after his arrival, Messi led Inter Miami to its first-ever trophy at the inaugural
03:27 Leagues Cup with a dramatic penalty shootout victory.
03:31 Off the field, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner supercharged the team's business operations,
03:36 with revenue more than doubling to $118 million in 2023 from $56 million in 2022.
03:43 However, Messi's presence on the roster isn't solely responsible for Inter Miami's $430
03:49 million value increase year over year.
03:52 The club has shrewdly capitalized on its megastar's commercial potential, starting even before
03:57 he arrived.
03:58 And the first full season with Messi in the United States offers even more upside, including
04:02 increased stadium attendance and higher average ticket prices.
04:07 And at number one for the second consecutive year is LAFC, at an estimated $1.2 billion.
04:13 The club turned a $9 million operating profit on a league-high $140 million in revenue for
04:18 2023.
04:19 It also added a 10-year, $100 million stadium naming rights pact with BMO prior to last
04:24 season, and in July, drew an MLS single-game record 82,110 fans to the Rose Bowl for its
04:31 rivalry match with the LA Galaxy.
04:33 LAFC pads its bottom line with a suite of non-MLS businesses, including concerts and
04:38 other events.
04:39 BMO Stadium sold more than 1.3 million tickets in 2023, and Polestar ranked the venue number
04:45 five on its year-end Top 100 Stadiums list, with a gross of $109 million, despite a capacity
04:52 of only 22,000.
04:54 LAFC has also dabbled in building its own network of soccer teams, adding a 90% stake
04:59 in Switzerland's grasshopper club Zurich.
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