Lionel Messi Mania will once again come through the New York/New Jersey area in 2024 with the Red Bulls and NYCFC both set to host the superstar forward and Inter Miami CF.
The Red Bulls and NYCFC, along with the rest of the MLS, announced their respective 2024 regular season schedules on Wednesday, with New York soccer fans likely looking to see when the football superstar will come to the area.
And fans won’t have to wait too long into the season if they had been hoping to see Messi, 36, live and in person.
The Red Bulls will host Inter Miami in their second home game of the season on March 23, with kickoff scheduled for 2 p.m.
The Red Bulls had the benefit of being one of the MLS clubs that had the chance to host Messi in his first season with Inter Miami after he announced he was headed to the United States in June.
Once news of Messi signing with the MLS club spread, ticket prices for the August match quadrupled from what they had been before the announcement.
Soccer fans packed Red Bull Arena, with a record crowd of 26,276 on hand to see the Argentine in his first regular season MLS match.
Messi rewarded the crowd with a goal in the 89th minute after he checked in the game’s 60th minute.
NYCFC missed out on the chance to host one of the world’s most recognizable athletes last season, but the team will get to face Inter Miami at Yankee Stadium later in the season.
The game with Miami is scheduled for Sept. 21 with a time to be announced.
It will mark the first time Messi will potentially play inside the five boroughs and give NYFC the chance to cash in on Messi’s presence in The Bronx.
Individual game tickets have not gone on sale yet for either club, but it wouldn’t be hard to imagine the two games becoming one of the most in-demand tickets for either team this season.
The schedule makers helped the Red Bulls from causing a stir after it was reported last month that a holiday ticket promotion that team was running included tickets to the home opener and the annual matchup against NYCFC.
But, there was a stipulation for the home opener if it came against Messi’s club.
According to NBC, it was noted that: “If RBNY plays Inter Miami CF in the home opener, each home opener ticket will be replaced with a ticket to RBNY’s 2nd home match.”
The Red Bulls will face FC Dallas in their home opener, while NYCFC will open its home schedule against Portland.
NYCFC will once again split its home games between Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, with sites for their home dates later in the season being determined by the MLB playoffs.
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