Loons CEO says Messi game will be played at Allianz Field

Minnesota United are set to host Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami side next May as part of MNUFC's 2025 MLS regular season schedule.

As soon as the game was announced, speculation began about whether the event would be moved out of Allianz Field and into a bigger venue. The Loons home seats 19,400. Meanwhile, the Vikings' U.S. Bank Stadium seats 66,468 for Vikings games and the Gophers' Huntington Bank Stadium, where the Loons played for two years before moving into Allianz Field, seats 50,805.

"It's gotta be at Allianz (Field)," MNUFC CEO Shari Ballard to the team's Sound of the Loons podcast. "There's probably two main benefits to moving it. Number one, if you go to a larger venue, you do give more people [a chance] to see the game. Miami will be fun to watch anyway, it'll be more fun if Messi plays, but they'll be fun to watch anyway. 

"You certainly would if you moved it, give more people the opportunity to see the game and maybe see, arguably, the greatest player of all time. And you have the opportunity to earn more revenue, to be honest. So those would be the pluses to doing it and we certainly have thought about it and talked about it, but what it came down to for our club, no way, baby. Allianz Field was made to host this soccer game and all of our soccer games."

Messi joined Inter Miami in the summer of 2023 after a decorated career with Barcelona in Spain, and PSG in France. Since joining the league, Messi has drawn massive crowds wherever his Inter Miami show up.

Sporting KC, who normally play at Children's Mercy Park (18,467 capacity) in Kansas City, hosted Inter Miami at the Kansas City Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium and had a crowd of 72,610 show up.

The New England Revolution, who play at the Patriots' Gillette Stadium (capacity: 65,878) and had an average attendance of 23,940 in 2023, had 65,612 attend their April game against Miami.

The Vancouver Whitecaps averaged 16,745 in 2023 and had 51,035 show up for an Inter Miami game in May — and Messi didn't even play. 

Chicago Fire averaged 18,175 at Soldier Field in 2023. Once again in a game Messi didn't appear in, the Fire had a reported attendance of 55,385 in August.

Even the most well-attended team in the league, Atlanta United (47,526 average in 2023), saw a jump to 67,795 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for a game in September between the two sides.

Recently, the Columbus Crew were reported to be moving its game against Inter Miami in 2025 to the Cleveland Browns' Huntington Bank Field, which is 145 miles away from their normal home.

Minnesota United will host Messi and Inter Miami on May 10 at Allianz Field. The Loons will open their season on Feb. 22 in Los Angeles when they take on LAFC.