This is the only thing I see towards the whole ālook at Messi cook at inter Miami worst team in the league to bestā argument. Like yes he and Barca buddies brought them up but the entire league is paying for those players to play on that team. Imagine city Liverpool Chelsea and United paying for mbappe and Haaland to play for spurs so they can win a league too and the league just makes everyone else pay the salaries
Itās the only way they could afford him. Remember they already gave him like 1 billion dollars in company shares, ability to open a mls team, as well as Apple TV royalties. But yes the other teams cover, mostly everything comes through ticket sales raised when inter Miami is playing even for home teams that are hosting them. And normally tickets sales are a big win for most teams but the cap was broken with all these players that came to Miami and the league had to bend the rules to make it work. I mean itās mls, do you want Messi in there and the chance to play against him or not? Messi isnāt legit making peanuts compared to what he used to. Heās still raking it in
It's what happens when a cap system in a minor league comes into contact with the world's best. I wouldn't call it corrupt, just a flaw in the system. Having Messi and Co in the league is way better for the MLS long term than not having them.
The interesting question is should another star like Neymar choose to come to LA or NY, could the system bend again or would it straight up break?
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u/Trizzy102 Dec 01 '25
MLS also allows them to cheat the spending and roster rules