The Lionel effect — with a twist of South Florida.
Major League Soccer (MLS) announced Monday they are currently on pace to accomplish record attendance figures in the 2024 campaign.
Around the halfway mark of the regular season, MLS is tallying an average of 23,246 spectators per contest, which is a 7% increase from this point in 2023 when Major League Soccer had an average of 21,734.
The current record average for attendance throughout an entire campaign is 22,111. (RELATED: US Soccer Gets Copa América Off To A Good Start With 2-0 Win Over Bolivia. Can They Win It All?)
If the league continues the pace they’re on for the rest of the season, their average attendance will see an increase of 5.1%.
And the main culprit for this?
None other than Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF — soccer’s Beatles.
Out of all of the clubs that have seen double digit attendance increases (not including Inter Miami) — Orlando City, LA Galaxy, New York Red Bulls, Chicago Fire, New England Revolution, Sporting Kansas City, Vancouver Whitecaps and CF Montréal — six of them have played hosts to Messi & Co.
6.5M of our favorite people. ❤️
Our ’24 season has been the biggest one to date: https://t.co/MaLwawLljS pic.twitter.com/TaHid4Q7UA
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 24, 2024
And for those who need video evidence:
72,610 fans turned out to watch Messi and Inter Miami take Sporting KC at Arrowhead Stadium tonight.
That’s the third-highest attendance for a single match in MLS history.
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 14, 2024
Just big things poppin’ courtesy of South Florida, per usual.
