Lionel Messi is coming to America. The biggest star in sports is leaving Paris St. Germain to join Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami. Buck Reising thought the story was big enough to devote a few minutes to on Wednesday. One of his listeners disagreed.
A texter calling himself TN Berg wrote, “I don’t understand. I understand they have to push it because of Nashville SC, but nobody even watches it lol. It’s Miami Marlins attendance.”
Reising took exception to the idea that he and his producer, Lucas Panzica are forced to talk about Major League Soccer on 104.5 The Zone because there is a franchise in the market.
“We don’t have any kind of edict to push anything,” he said. “Lucas is the voice of Nashville SC. I am curious to know, as somebody who is not a soccer diehard, but who is interested in the United States acquiring the biggest international sports star going at this point, what that means.”
Messi is on the short list when soccer fans discuss the best player in the history of the sport. He joins a long line of international stars that come to the United States in the final days of their playing career.
Resising added that the MLS luring Lionel Messi to Miami is bigger than just a soccer story. The league made a deal last year with Apple TV+ for national coverage of all of its games. Messi will receive a percentage of all of the money generated from those subscriptions. That makes his signing a business story in Buck Reising’s eyes.
“I understand you may not be considering all the different things,” he said directing his frustration at the texter. “I’m not going to call you a mouth breather, but I’m saying that you’re displaying the behavior of one if you don’t realize the impact this is about to have on Apple’s bottom line to acquire the biggest international star in sport.”
