Review of "The Messi Effect"

Major League Soccer (MLS) has been in existence since 1996, but the bug didn't hit me until 2017, when Minnesota United started play as an expansion team.  Since then I have followed the league and Minnesota casually, but of course I took notice when Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami in 2023.  This is a great book on how his arrival has impacted the league. 

Title/Author:

“The Messi Effect: How the Global Legend Changed the Future of American Soccer” by Paul Tenorio

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: 

When a global superstar in soccer decides to play for a team in the United States, it makes for a seismic reaction from soccer fans across the world and provides American soccer a lot of publicity.  Three examples of this are when Pele arrived to play for the New York Cosmos in 1975, David Beckham arriving from England to play for the LA Galaxy in 2007 and Lionel Messi’s signing with Inter Miami in 2023.  The latter of these events is covered in this book by Paul Tenorio.

It should be noted that this book’s primary focus is not Messi himself but the business of Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of professional soccer in the United States.  The “Messi Effect” is how his presence in MLS would affect the growth, quality of play, popularity and progression of MLS. The league has taken slow but mostly steady growth since its near bankruptcy in 2001.  There was a noted increase in many of these items when Beckham joined, a fact Tenorio notes often.

However, the connection between the two superstars of different eras is much tighter than that.  After his playing days were over, Beckham became one of the owners of the Inter Miami expansion team, thereby becoming Messi’s employer.  Why Messi decided to join Inter Miami is told in excellent detail early in the book by Tenorio and he does just as fine a job with his explanations of the inner workings of MLS ownership.

Tenorio notes how the principal owner of Inter Miami, Jorge Mas, is a visionary and forward thinker as Mas wants the league to use the power of Messi’s popularity to grow the league’s international status.  As a whole, ownership of MLS has always had a conservative view of growth and favored competitive balance, a formula what was working for the NFL.  Tenorio paints a terrific picture of these owners and how their actions were holding back the size of growth for the league.  There are changes coming that he points out, but they may be too late to complement the exposure the league is getting from Messi and the 2026 World Cup coming to North America.

I bring all these up because this is a fantastic look at not only Messi’s arrival and on-field performance but MLS as a whole – from its beginnings to its upcoming changes on the schedule and rosters.  Any fan of MLS or soccer in general will want to add this one to their library.

I wish to thank St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: The Messi Effect: How the Global Legend Changed the Future of American Soccer: Tenorio, Paul: 9781250364173: Amazon.com: Books

 

Review of "The Rise of Major League Soccer"

Admittedly, I don't watch a lot of soccer - MLS or otherwise, save for the World Cup.  It's mainly because while I love to see matches in person, I haven't come to fully appreciate it on TV or other media platforms.  I am certainly going to try to change this, as MLS, as explained in this book, will certainly reach the status to be in the conversation with the four main sports leagues in North America.  Here is my review of "The Rise of Major League Soccer." 

Title/Author: “The Rise of Major League Soccer: Building a Global Giant” by Rick Burton and Norm O’Reily

Rating: 5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: Professional soccer leagues in North America have had a very spotty history at best.  Many have come and gone, but there is one league, Major League Soccer (MLS), that has defied the odds and survived a near extinction to become a league that is getting more notice and respect around the globe. Notes sports business authors Rick Burton and Norm O’Riley look at the history and future of MLS in this excellent book.

While Burton and O’Riley wrote most of the text, there are many contributions from various soccer people, from players to business people and they are welcome but also contribute to the one minor issue I had with the book – there is a lot of repetitiveness of certain topics, such as the arrival of Lionel Messi in 2023.  While his arrival is one of the biggest events in MLS history, that and a few other items are repeated by many of the guests and by Burton and O’Reily. 

But at least the repetitions are on items that are truly landmark events for the league. In addition to Messi, there has been one huge name in soccer that changed the landscape of the league. That was David Beckham – when he agreed to sign with the LA Galaxy in 2007, it caused a seismic change in the league, all for the positive. It paved the way for many other international superstars of the game to come to MLS.  Beckham’s involvement has come full circle as he is now one of the owners of Inter Miami, the MLS club for whom Messi plays.

There are plenty of great things about this book that any soccer fan will enjoy.  Burton and O’Reily look at earlier leagues in North America, including the North American Soccer League (NASL) and their brief but exciting history. The idea to bring in international superstars was also done by them, most notably Pele, when he played for the New York Cosmos. As for MLS and its bright outlook (according to the authors), there is excellent reasoning they give for this. There are a few reasons and they are all covered well, but the most notable is the contract with Apple TV for broadcast rights, given Apple’s global name brand recognition.  The other big reason is that now the generations of soccer-playing youngsters are now adults and they are taking their love of the game to the stadiums and streaming services to ensure its growth.  The authors also note the increased diversity of nationalities of American and Canadian citizens and they bring the love of soccer with them from their nations of heritage.

Add all of these up and one gets a very interesting and informative book. Not only readers who enjoy the sport, but anyone who likes reading about the business side of sports, no matter the sport, will want to add this book to their library.

I wish to thank Lyons Press for providing an advance review copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.  

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Major-League-Soccer-Building/dp/1493086715/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=