Messi’s global tour a PR nightmare
IT’S ALL been very messy.
We’re talking about Lionel Messi and Inter Miami’s global tour of exhibition games where the main show has been Argentina’s 2022 World Cup-winning captain.
The matches are about promotion and marketing, hoping to build a new brand by using stars like Messi and Uruguayan Luis Suarez. Instead, the tour is getting mostly bad PR, and results that have not been much better in matches that have stretched from El Salvador, through Dallas, into Saudi Arabia, and then Hong Kong on Sunday.
The next stop is Tokyo’s National Stadium tomorrow against Vissel Kobe, and a wrap-up match on February 16 in Florida against Newell’s Old Boys – Messi’s boyhood club in Argentina, and the club that might be his final destination before retiring.
Through five games, Inter Miami have been outscored 12-7 and won only once. And that was Sunday in Hong Kong, where a 4-1 victory over the local team was overshadowed by angry fans holding up signs demanding a refund and booing since neither Messi nor Suarez played – both out injured and ageing.
Messi is 36 and Suarez is 37, and both are more and more subject to nagging injuries.
“The marketing hype in promoting the event to global fans creates high expectations, coupled with government subsidy of the event,” John Grady, a sports law professor at the University of South Carolina, told The Associated Press. “This also raises the expectations that marquee players will appear as advertised.”
FANS PAY HIGH PRICES TO ATTEND
Even though fans know the games are for practice, and meaningless in the standings, they still choose to pay high prices and attend. As the phrase goes in Latin – caveat emptor, or “let the buyer beware”.
“As more football teams recruit elite talent with large followings, including on social media, it creates a situation where nonappearance causes fan outrage and results in a public relations headaches,” Grady added.
Inter Miami coach Gerardo Martino apologised for Messi’s absence after Sunday’s Hong Kong match. Fans who saw practice on Saturday at least saw the Argentina captain in a kick-around, with Miami co-owner David Beckham also on the field.
“We understand the disappointment of the fans for the absence of Leo (Messi) and Luis Suarez,” Martino said. “We understand a lot of fans are very disappointed and we ask for their forgiveness. We wish we could have sent Leo and Luis on for at least a while, but the risk was too big.”
Messi came on for the last seven minutes in the 6-0 loss at Al-Nassr – one of the two matches in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – as Inter Miami prepares for its MLS season opener on February 22.