- Lionel Messi is coming to play in the US for the first time in his career.
- It was announced earlier in June he'd be joining the Inter Miami team.
Lionel Messi announced in early June he'd be joining Inter Miami for the upcoming season, making it the first time he'll ever play for a US soccer team. As Insider previously reported, Messi turned down an offer from his old club FC Barcelona and a reported $300 million-per-year deal in Saudi Arabia.
As soon as the announcement was made, tickets to see Inter Miami soared in price, reaching $624 for matches in September, making this a ten-fold increase compared to matches before his joining.
But this is not the only thing that is soaring for the team. Fans of — arguably — the best soccer player in the world went en masse to follow the team's social accounts. The team's Instagram account went from having one million followers in early June to over seven million as of Sunday.
No NFL, MLB, or NHL team compares
This growth has made Inter Miami the most followed US team sport ever when it comes to any team from the NFL, MLB, NHL, and other teams from MLS.
For comparison, the New England Patriots have almost five million followers on Instagram, making them the top NFL team in terms of followers. Second to them come the Dallas Cowboys, with 4.9 million followers.
That said, some NBA teams do have more followers than Inter Miami, like the Los Angeles Lakers, who have almost 23 million followers.
Messi is the second most followed person
It might come as no surprise that his new soccer team has gathered so many new fans. After all, Messi is the second most followed person on Instagram with 470 million followers. Only ahead of him is Cristiano Ronaldo, with 589 million followers. Both are ahead in terms of following to the Kardashian-Jenners, believe it or not.