‘All hell broke loose’: A look at how Messi signing changed MLS
Hurricanes wide receiver Xavier Restrepo scurries around Virginia defenders Saturday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. UM prevailed 29-26 in overtime for the second straight game. For the late result of Saturday’s game, go to miamiherald.com.
Dave Zighelboim will never forget June 7, 2023, the day Argentine soccer icon Lionel Messi announced he was signing with Inter Miami.
As president of Miamibased Soccer Locker, which has been selling soccer supplies and apparel for 42 years, Zighelboim was having a hard time moving Inter Miami merchandise.
“I had tons of product because the team was losing and their stuff wasn’t selling much,” Zighelboim said. “Then they signed Messi, and all hell broke loose.”
Within hours of Messi’s announcement, customers began showing up at Soccer Locker’s Pinecrest store and calling on the phone seeking Messi jerseys. Nearly five months later, the Messi No. 10 Inter Miami shirts, especially the pink ones, are still flying off the racks. Zighelboim has seen a 20 percent increase in business and loaded up on every Messi shirt he can find for the holiday season.
Brian Berklich can relate. He is the chief marketing officer of soccer.com, the largest soccer specific retailer in the United States, which began 40 years ago as a mail-order catalog. He said Messi’s pink No. 10 exploded immediately and has been the site’s
No. 1 selling jersey for the past four months.
“Before that time, Inter Miami would not have been in our top 20, the top sellers were jerseys from the typical global powerhouses like Manchester