Unprecedented Exposure

Messi officially joins Inter Miami and the US American press is going into hyperbole mode:

The signing is reminiscent of 2007, when Los Angeles Galaxy of M.L.S. signed the world’s most famous player, if not the best, David Beckham, at age 32. Beckham played in L.A. for six years, winning two championships, and brought the league unprecedented exposure.

I remember that Beckham played for LA Galaxy but I didn’t know he won two championships. This was at a time when I would watch any football game, anywhere, anytime. I had a season ticket so I don’t miss a single home of my local tier-three team. I went to see games of the U17 EUROs in 2009. If there was a Division 5 play-off match broadcast by a local TV station, I’d watch it. But I didn’t follow the MLS. Even today, most football fans outside the US would be hard pressed to name one team that won a MLS championship in the last five years. Do they call them World Champions too?

Coverage in European outlets has died down already. Messi joining Miami will make a difference on Messi’s bank account and the follower count of Inter Miami’s Instagram. But the MLS continues to be an inferior league that is irrelevant on a global scale—with or without Messi. People don’t care about US football because the game is better at home, and there’s already enough football to watch.

Unprecedented exposure? I know that Messi now wears pink when he plays.