Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant or LeBron James These are names that everyone knows or at least sounds like. All of them are or were world basketball stars, but especially NBA. He basketball Along with American football, they are the main sports in the United States of America.
The American giant has been an expert in business, marketing and advertising from the very beginning. The Americans have found a formula to make anything attractive, but above all, sellable. A great example of this are its sporting events of the year: NBA Finals or American Football Festival, Super Bowl.
A good way to illustrate this desire to create a need in the consumer to buy is to recall a scene from a movie. ‘The wolf of Wall Street’. The scene takes place during a dinner at which Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) asks Brad Bodnick (Jon Bernthal) sell you a pen. Brad himself creates a need for Jordan to buy a pen.
The same thing happened April 1, 1985, when Nike released the Jordan 1.. The multinational company expected to sell 100,000 pairs in the first year, but saw that every ordinary American needed to wear the same shoes as one of the great basketball players. Thus, sales skyrocketed, with about half a million pairs sold in the first month.
Basketball was already a massive sport in the mid-80s, but the rise of the figure Michael Jordan Adds Thousands of Spectators to the NBA. It’s very American to create authentic stars in any field, not for nothing that Hollywood is located in one of its cities.
LeBron James Today, that name would take Jordan’s place, but at the end of the day, they’re the stars of a sport that’s already being marketed as a show. football, good football as it is called in the American lands, it is not on the same level as the previously mentioned sports.
Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan meeting with USA.
The United States lacks football idols, except Clint Dempsey or landondonovan, a superpower that has never shown much interest in football. However, 2023 could be a turning point. On July 17, Inter Miami announced the signing of a contract with Lionel Messi.
Major League Soccer has already seen a parade of football legends in their stadiums: Thierry Henry, David Villa, Lampard, Pirlo, Kaka or Ibrahimovic some of them. But they are far from the Messi phenomenon, just seven months after winning the World Cup, the Argentine star is unleashing a frenzy on the American giant.
Messi revolutionized the United States
“Yeah guys, see you in Miami”. This was the first message from an Argentine in a shirt with herons. The arrival of one of the best football players in history brought about an endless amount of economic, social and immediate change.
The media influence that took the Miami team to the next level. Going no further, your The Instagram account has grown from a million followers in May to nearly thirteen million now.. To understand the scope that this implies, a comparison can be made with Spanish clubs. Only Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid exceed this mark. In all American sports the franchise of Jorge Mas and David Beckham is in the top 4 sports teams, it is surpassed only Golden Warriors, Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers.
On July 22, the debut of the Argentine star in the pink jersey of his new club was being prepared. The meeting was attended by countless people, even the cameras captured the greeting between “10” and LeBron James. Messi’s debut blew up the audience and it became the most watched game in MLS history. Gained an audience of 12.5 million viewers according to records of official broadcasting channels. Last year’s NBA Finals golden state And boston celtis had a similar record, 12.4 million, according to extra.
On an economic level, Lionel Messi is becoming one of the highest paid athletes in the country. The Argentine will make about $55 million a season, far from the $48.5 million that Stephen Curry makes, or the $44.5 million that LeBron James earns, and even the $39.3 million that Ryan Tannehill earns.highest paid player in the NFL.
The clearest example of what the arrival of Messi on football, most likely this is an increase in the price of tickets for Inter Miami. His debut match, before Blue Cross, the cheapest price started at $29 and went up to $329 after official status. The matter does not stop there, Duel against the New York Red Bulls by the end of August it had gone from $30 to over $400.
Added to all this is the “messimania” created around the Argentine legend. The perfect explanation was given in a match against atlanta united. The Argentine “10” was replaced, and an endless number of pitchers began to move out of the stadium, and the game was still ahead.
“Lionel has the ability and the ability to change football in the US”said its president, Jorge Mas, the day before the presentation.