The Messi Effect: Miami Named One of America's Best Cities for Soccer Fans

It's amazing what a difference a Lionel Messi can make.

As the U.S. Open Cup and Major League Soccer season heat up, WalletHub has released its 2024 report on the best American cities for soccer fans. Miami, home of the "Atomic Flea" and the current first-place team in the MLS Eastern Conference, is unsurprisingly near the top of its list.

According to WalletHub, data crunching on team performance, stadium quality, and social media engagement, among other factors, reveals that Miami is the ninth-best large city in the U.S. for soccer fans. The study pins Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Orlando, and Washington, D.C., as America's top five large cities for fútbol fandom.

WalletHub's study compared 300 U.S. cities with at least one college or professional soccer team across dozens of key metrics, including minimum season-ticket price, attendance, fan engagement, stadium capacity, franchise valuation, and number of championships and conference titles.


Miami ranked 11th among cities of all sizes — not bad for a place still waiting to truly host its MLS team. Inter Miami currently plays in Fort Lauderdale at DRV PNK Stadium, the team's home until their new stadium at Miami Freedom Park opens. (Construction is scheduled to be complete in 2025.)

Below is a snapshot of how Miami's soccer fandom metrics stacked up against the rest of the cities in the study:

• 15th – Performance Level of MLS Team
• 10th – Performance Level of USL (United Soccer League) Team
• 24th – Min. Season-Ticket Price for MLS Game
• 23rd – Min. Season-Ticket Price for USL Game
• 9th – MLS Stadium Capacity
• 7th – USL Stadium Capacity
• 1st – MLS Fan Engagement
• 1st – USL Fan Engagement

There's no doubt that the overhaul of Inter Miami's roster with Messi at the core has transformed the Magic City from a place where soccer was generally an afterthought into a global center for fútbol fans.

Before Messi joined, the team was in a major rut and sitting at the bottom of the MLS Eastern Conference standings. Following his arrival and Inter Miami's acquisition of his former teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, Inter Miami blazed through the 2023 Leagues Cup to win their first-ever tournament trophy.

Miami is now inarguably a soccer town, and that's reflected in the team's attendance and fan engagement rankings.

Paradoxically, Messi's arrival appears to have had one detrimental effect on the study ranking. If not for Inter Miami's expensive ticket prices — the obvious cost of doing business when Messi is the show in town — Miami may have placed a bit higher in the study. Currently, Inter Miami ticket prices average a hefty $357 per ticket, with the get-in-the-door price hovering above $60, depending on the opponents and day of the week.

Miami's less-followed professional team, Miami FC of the United Soccer League, was also factored into the study. Although Miami FC is currently sitting in dead last place in its division, it still has the most fan engagement in the league, according to the WalletHub study.

Methodology

To determine the best cities for soccer fans, WalletHub, a personal finance website known for its pop-culture surveys and studies, analyzed U.S. cities across five divisions: MLS (Division I men), National Women's Soccer League (Division I women), USL (Division II men), and Division I women and men's college soccer. The cities were evaluated using the 52 metrics with varying weight, graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the most favorable conditions for soccer enthusiasts.

Regarding fan engagement online, the score was determined by assessing a team's Twitter (now known as X) followers and Facebook "Likes" per capita. With more than 2.5 million "Likes" on Facebook and 1.2 million followers on X, it's no surprise that Miami leads soccer fan social engagement.

For the full report, visit WalletHub's Best Cities for Soccer Fans 2024.