The Messi Effect: How the Global Legend Changed the Future of American Soccer by Paul Tenorio, St. Martin’s Press.

“Signing Messi in 2023 was meant to be a wrecking ball to break through the league’s structure,” Paul Tenorio writes of Inter Miami’s signing of the somewhat storied Argentine No. 10. While fiscal conservatism and owner investment had helped the league expand and stabilize, “what was once prudent now felt more like an anchor weighing down the league’s growth.” If a player of this stature couldn’t push Major League Soccer to open up and conform to soccer’s global trading norms, then who would?

This book makes the case for liberating MLS. Switching to a fall-spring schedule was the first necessary step. Renegotiating the Apple TV deal to free up a weekly game from behind the paywall and curtail the 10-year contract was another good move. And it’s a no-brainer to keep talking about scheduling re-formats in order to make the regular season more meaningful and the playoffs more exciting.

It’s the final step to “revamp the roster rules,” however, that Tenorio says connects the league’s future with the signing of Messi. The argument is not fully made until the epilogue, after a very long buildup. After conforming to his media-shy reputation for over two years in the USA, it’s Messi himself who tells NBC News late in 2025, after signing a new three-year contract, that teams should be allowed to sign whoever they like “so many more important players come and help the growth” of the U.S. game.

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