Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Antonio Borga/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has been the nation's hottest ticket by far — until arguably the greatest soccer player of all-time decided to take his talents to South Beach.
State of play: Tickets to see Lionel Messi's debut next month for Major League Soccer's Inter Miami are going for an average of about $2,600 on SeatGeek, according to Fortune.
- That's almost as much as it cost to score a last-minute ticket to Swift's show last Friday in Pittsburgh ($2,625), and significantly more than a ticket to see Inter Miami play sans Messi.
- The lowest price for Miami's game on July 21 — Messi's expected debut for the club — is $1,065.
- Tickets for the game on July 4, meanwhile, are as low as $26.
Between the lines: Prices are so high not only because it's Messi, but because Miami's DRV PNK Stadium is relatively small, seating just 18,000 people. Swift has been playing in football stadiums that routinely hold well over 50,000.
The backdrop: Messi decided to join Inter Miami earlier this month after spending two years playing for Paris Saint-Germain in France's Ligue 1.
- His contract with Miami will pay between $50 million and $60 million annually, making him the highest-paid athlete in U.S. sports.
- And that sum doesn't even include the lucrative revenue-sharing agreements with league partners Apple, Adidas and Fanatics, which are still being negotiated.