Adidas will soon announce that Lionel Messi’s shirt was “their number one jersey of any sport,” MLS commissioner Don Garber told The Athletic.
Adidas has not responded to questions about Garber’s comments, or indicated whether the top jersey was Messi’s Argentina or Inter Miami shirt, as the brand produces both kits.
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Last September, MLS announced that Messi’s Miami shirt was the league’s best-seller of 2023, even though he had only signed with Miami three months earlier at that point. In October, the New York Times reported that Adidas had nearly 500,000 requests from stores and suppliers for Messi’s Miami jersey within the first days of him announcing the move.
Having Adidas’ global best seller signed to an MLS club is an indicator for the league that it has the opportunity to break into new markets around the world — especially over the next several years when all eyes will be on the international competitions coming Stateside.
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“We’re beginning to see that if you do things right, maybe there’s an opportunity to spread some of our market from what has been Canada and the United States to the rest of the world,” Garber said. “It speaks a bit to how we’re not afraid of the opening of this market, (through) Copa (America), the World Cup, and the Club World Cup, but are leaning into it in a big way.”
There’s no question Messi’s arrival in Miami in July drew an unprecedented level of attention to MLS. His pink No. 10 kit has become a staple in international sports culture, with fans wearing the jersey not just across MLS stadiums but also around the world.
But it’s not just the now iconic pink kit that has become a hot commodity. In December, a collection of six shirts worn by Messi during the 2022 World Cup became the most expensive sports memorabilia sold in 2023 after the set was purchased at auction for $7.8 million.
Garber shared his excitement about the Messi shirt sales when discussing the growing attention on MLS and the league’s $2.5 billion deal with Apple that gave the tech giant the media rights to show every MLS match on its streaming service for 10 years. Messi also earns a share of the revenue generated by new subscribers to the platform.
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“The Apple deal gives us the platform to be able to capitalize, through technology, on a growing international market that has interest in some of our teams and some of our players,” Garber said. “So, if you think about all the things that we’re trying to do. … We’re making a long-term commitment to this idea that we are a domestic league playing in the global sandbox, and how do we capture and capitalize on this growing market opportunity?”
Having the most recognizable athlete in the world in MLS with a kit everyone wants to wear is certainly one way to do that.
(Photo: Thaddaeus McAdams/Getty Images)