The big news out of the global sporting world this week has been Argentinian soccer legend Lionel Messi being lured away from a $430 million offer from Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal to play in the United States for Major League Soccer team Inter Miami.
Messi is a seven-time Ballon d’Or winner who led Argentina to a stirring World Cup win in December. He's arguably approaching Michael Jordan in terms of global sports transcendental megastar status, and he's the biggest get ever in the 27-year history of the MLS, the 2007 signing by of David Beckham by the Los Angeles Galaxy included.
We haven't seen a unified MLS salary figure for Messi, but considering that the league's teams are capped at $5.21 million per season for their whole roster, the 35-year-old star's compensation portfolio needed to be diversified.
That starts with a reported 35% ownership stake in Inter Miami. But it appears to have taken a village to bring Messi to America.
According to numerous published reports, including one in The Athletic, Apple was instrumental in luring Messi to Miami, offering the player a percentage of revenue from new MLS Season Pass signups.
A year ago, Apple entered into a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with the MLS to exclusively stream all of the league's games on the Apple TV app.
Apple also revealed earlier this week that a four-part docuseries focused on Messi will soon run on SVOD service Apple TV Plus.
Apple has never broken out subscription numbers for services including the $15-a-month MLS Season Pass, but suffice it to say that Messi's addition will likely drive signups and reduce churn.
Meanwhile, Adidas, MLS' footwear/apparel partner, reportedly has an arrangement with Messi, as well.
