A young soccer fan holds a Lionel Messi jersey before the start of the Inter Miami CF and Vancouver Whitecaps game at BC Place during their MLS match on May 25 in Vancouver.Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images
The Vancouver Whitecaps set an attendance record Saturday night at BC Place. But the real story was the guy who wasn’t there.
“Where is Messi?” the crowd chanted.
Lionel Messi is considered one of the greatest soccer players of all time – maybe the best. After spending most of his career with Barcelona and leading Argentina to a FIFA World Cup victory in 2022, Mr. Messi stunned the soccer world in 2023 when he left Europe to play in North America, signing a multimillion-dollar contract with Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami CF.
“With the most revered and influential athlete on the planet playing in Miami … the U.S. is now a soccer nation,” Time magazine wrote. MLS merchandise sales, viewership and attendance soared after he signed.
For the Whitecaps, what was to be Mr. Messi’s first game in Vancouver was a huge draw. People splurged on season tickets, or on four-match packages, knowing it would include a date with Miami. Fans spent hundreds – even thousands – for single tickets.
And then things got messy.
Insulting a rival politician’s appearance is a low blow
On Thursday, the Whitecaps broke the news to fans: Mr. Messi was not travelling to Vancouver. Nor were two other star players, Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets.
Parents who had shelled out big bucks to give their soccer-loving children this bucket-list experience were furious. Kids were devastated. All the apologies in the world weren’t going to make up for this ugly moment in the beautiful game.
The Whitecaps tried, though – first announcing that anyone under 18 would get a free kids’ meal, and that all food and beverages would be 50 per cent off. Then, on game day, ticket holders were offered a free ticket for a 2024 regular season match.
On game night, more than 51,000 people showed up, more than double the average crowd. The atmosphere was lively; the crowd was in good spirits, in spite of it all, including the final result: Miami won 2-1.
But many missed a chunk of the game, stuck in giant food lines for those free kids’ combos. I took one look and headed for a different line, for a couple of half-price hot dogs. (I was briefly tempted by the $42 lobster roll – now selling for a mere $21. One night only!)
I saw the faces of aggrieved parents entering the stands after doing time in a line-up with hungry kids (who had to be present to qualify for the freebie). I thought: I wonder if they’ll ever buy a ticket for a soccer game again.
There had been concern that Mr. Messi, 36, wouldn’t play because of BC Place’s artificial turf. Inter Miami said that was not the reason; manager Gerardo Martino said he and the coaching staff decided to rest their star after training on Thursday. There was talk of the congested schedule, with three Miami games in one week. Plus, there’s the fact that Vancouver is just so far away – three time zones from Miami.
Was any of this a surprise? Did they just figure this all out two days before the match? Or did Miami allow yet another team to sell a whole bunch of tickets based on a false premise? This isn’t the first time Mr. Messi has been a no-show, either. Is the league okay with this?
Rubbing salt in Vancouver’s wound of absentia, Mr. Messi and Mr. Suarez appeared at an Inter Miami youth game Friday night “to inspire the next generation of fútbol stars,” a Miami team press release stated.
Inter Miami CF did not respond to an e-mail requesting an interview. In a statement on Friday, MLS said it will “continue to review measures regarding how clubs report player availability.”
Soccer is a particularly gruelling sport, sure. So create a schedule that allows the league’s biggest draw to actually attend the games.
Whitecaps chief executive officer Axel Schuster said in an interview Tuesday that the team was also devastated. Some players had flown in family from Europe for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. But he quickly regrouped.
“My job was, after a moment of disappointment and frustration, to encourage everyone to put back energy into the project because we knew that a lot of people will come and we still wanted to make it a good game day experience.”
When I asked him how he reacted when he found out the news, he responded that he had better not say. “You know I’m German; we are very direct in our language and our culture.”
You have to feel for the Whitecaps. But if the league and its teams are going to allow so much to ride on one star, that marquee player had better show up. Or there should be consequences. Half-price concessions are hardly an adequate concession.