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News, Blog and GuidesThe MLS outfit is set to travel on an Chinese tour, a seemingly lucrative trip that will serve to increase the popularity of the club and league.
Joe Brennanj4brennanUpdate: Oct 16th, 2023 07:43 EDT
CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICHEFE
Inter Miami are set to fly to China for a postseason tour after the club failed to make the domestic playoffs in MLS. The side ultimately missed out on classifying for the chance to play more stateside football due to a late-season wobble that saw them go winless in 5, including a damaging defeat to Houston Dynamo in the US Open Cup final.
To make matters worse, the club had to compete in the home straight of the campaign without Lionel Messi, their star player and talisman, the p who had signalled the huge winds of change at the club. But we all know that the football never stops, and the side have to pick themselves up quickly before packing their bags for Asia.
But why are the club doing the postseason trip? How much money will they earn? Let’s take a look…
Inter Miami's Chinese tour fixtures:
Sat 5 Nov: Qingdao Hainiu, Qingdao Youth Football StadiumWed 8 Nov: Chengdu Rongcheng, Phoenix Hill Sports Park
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Excitement for Messi has seen ticket prices surge in Miami.MEGAN BRIGGSAFP
China tour “a great opportunity”, says Miami director
“This will be a great opportunity to continue building on our 2023 campaign, in which we achieved our first-ever trophy,” Miami’s sporting director and chief soccer officer, Chris Henderson, said. “We will take this as an opportunity to begin our preparations for 2024, as we look to build on last season and find more success moving forward.”
The idea behind the Chinese tour is, for the MLS side, as well as giving the players semi-competitive minutes to keep them fresh, to also give the club a chance to expand globally in a huge market. The enthusiasm for football in China continues to grow rapidly: while the boom we saw of the domestic league is now limited, the rooted and loyal fanfare for the sport is still there, with the country actually inventing its own version of football, cuju, way before the modern game that we know know.
China Bound ✈️🇨🇳This November we will embark on our first-ever international tour to China, seeking to expand our reach in new territory and begin preparations for 2024!Find out all the details: https://t.co/BKSU9F19LL pic.twitter.com/5fH089htih
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) October 15, 2023
How much money will Inter Miami earn from the China tour?
The MLS side have not yet revealed either the television or ticketing information for the tour of China, with the club website’s announcement saying news is arriving “in the coming weeks”. However, if we look at the last time Messi was in China, which was back in June when Argentina played a friendly game in Beijing, which was against Australia at the Workers’ Stadium, the lowest-priced seats for were listed at $80 and the highest-priced sat at around $670.
Some quick mental maths shows that, if the tickets are similarly priced, given the two stadiums can hold between 50,000 and 60,000 fans, the pair of matches could generate well over $20m in ticket revenue. Tickets to see Messi in China have a history of selling out at the speed of light, so expect this to be no different. Reports suggest that the Argentina Football Federation earned around $6 million for two games post World Cup – it would not be far-fetched to suspect Miami’s p might be a lot more.
pic.twitter.com/SXRcClpaHZ
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) October 10, 2023
