Onus on teams to use Lionel Messi to build buzz

When Lionel Messi visits New Jersey next week, the Red Bulls won’t be getting any instructions from the league office.

“It is the responsibility of the local clubs to build their fan base,” MLS commissioner Don Garber told ESPN Saturday when asked how teams should maximize Messi’s presence. “The league is not going to tell them what to do when somebody else comes to town.

“I know what I would do if I were a coach or a general manager. If I was the president of a club, and I heard [Philadelphia Union coach] Jim Curtin say this in Philadelphia, [I’d say]: ‘Come here and support your team.’

“Yeah, it will be nice to see somebody else wearing that pink jersey and that might be a special moment, but that was an opportunity for the Philadelphia Union to be on their way to winning another trophy. The league isn’t going to mandate those kinds of things. It’s really up to our team.”

As Messi begins league play — his appearances with Inter Miami so far have all been in the Leagues Cup, which Miami won over Nashville SC on Saturday — MLS faces the conundrum of promoting him, while also building fan bases locally.

Red Bull Arena will be an early proving ground for that balancing act.

Currently, the get-in price on the secondary market to see Messi in Harrison, N.J., runs more than $400 a pop, and the appeal of coming to see him is intrinsic.

Getting people to come back for a lower-profile game, though, is a different story.

Since coming over from Paris Saint-Germain, Messi has completely dominated each time he’s stepped onto the pitch.

Messi has scored 10 goals with an assist in just six games, including a free-kick winner in his first match and an outrageous strike against Nashville on Saturday.

That gave Miami an early lead, though Nashville would tie the game before losing, 10-9, in a penalty shootout. 

“I thought we were slightly the better side,” Nashville coach Gary Smith told reporters. “You’re looking at, again, the greatest player on the planet possibly being the difference in what went on today.”