With Messi in the U.S. and World Cup to follow, MLS owners debate roster rule changes
It took just 22 minutes for Lionel Messi to score two goals on Atlanta United’s defense Tuesday night, and just one appearance before that to deliver a storybook moment. Before the Argentine arrived, Inter Miami had not won in 11 consecutive MLS games. They have now won twice in the two Leagues Cup games he has appeared.
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Messi has dominated every league in which he’s played, and for the next two and a half years, performances like the ones we’ve already seen here will bring new eyeballs to Major League Soccer. Combined with an unprecedented run of important soccer events coming to the U.S. (2024 Copa America, 2025 Club World Cup, 2026 World Cup and potentially 2027 Women’s World Cup), the opportunity is there to capture a larger audience. MLS has to find a way to make long-term fans out of the casual viewers who come with Messi and those tournaments.
For that reason, one of the major questions going into last week’s MLS board of governors meeting in Washington D.C. was whether the league would consider changes to its complicated web of roster rules. That doesn’t necessarily mean changing how much owners are spending, but how they are allowed to spend it.
Multiple team executives, who were granted anonymity to speak bluntly without impacting their standing in the league, said MLS needs to allow teams more flexibility to spend money across their rosters and improve the overall product. Improving the teams and players around Messi are critical to maximizing his impact in the league, they said.
“Evolution is inevitable and change is likely,” said Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas, who has been an advocate for change and now has delivered the biggest star in MLS history. “We all want this to be an elite league, we all want
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