New England Revolution have sold more than 60,000 tickets for Messi's visit

The New England Revolution announced Wednesday that the club has sold more than 60,000 tickets for their April 27 match against Inter Miami at Gilette Stadium and anticipates it being the highest-attended home match in the history of the MLS charter club.

The Revolution are one of a handful of MLS teams that play in a stadium primarily meant to host NFL games. Founded by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, the Revolution have played in the same stadium as the Patriots since the former’s 1996 inception, including at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. since 2001. Gilette Stadium seats just over 65,000 people.

It would be the latest commercial success for Inter Miami and the MLS since Lionel Messi’s arrival to the club last summer. Messi was soon joined by former FC Barcelona teammates Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and, at the beginning of the 2024 MLS season, Luis Suarez. But Messi is the draw, and both Inter Miami and the MLS have seen ticket sales and viewership ratings go through the roof since the arrival of the Argentine superstar and 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup champion.

By comparison, the Revolution averaged just 23,940 fans per game in 2023 — a new club record — and had just over 29,000 attend their 2024 home opener. The Inter Miami match is set to break the current Revolution attendance record for both a regular season (57,4407 attendees) and a playoff game (61,316 attendees). The former was set on April 20, 1997, when the Revolution played a match against the Tampa Bay Mutiny as part of a doubleheader where the main event was a United States men’s team World Cup qualifying match against Mexico. The latter was set during the 2002 MLS Cup final between the Revolution and LA Galaxy.

Gillette Stadium has also hosted international friendlies that have drawn more than 60,000 fans, including a 2007 friendly between Brazil and Mexico and a 2011 friendly between Spain and the U.S. However, Messi’s anticipated arrival to the building Tom Brady called home for more than two decades seems poised to top them all, at least attendance-wise.

There is still some concern over whether Messi will actually play that game. Messi has been out since March 13 due to a hamstring injury he suffered in Miami’s CONCACAF Champions Cup match against Nashville, though the injury had been described as minor.

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