Messi’s Vancouver Absence Shows Need For MLS Competitive Changes

The news broke late Thursday night — reported first by the Miami Herald’s Michelle Kaufman and soon relayed by the Vancouver Whitecaps — that Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets would not make the trip when Inter Miami travels to face the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night in an MLS regular season clash.

Although there was initial surprise for many (including those who bought tickets at elevated prices, as well as in the betting market where Miami quickly went from slight favorites to substantial underdogs), the club’s decision to rest its three former FC Barcelona stars is sensible for several reasons:

1. Vancouver represents Miami’s longest away trip of the season in flight miles.
2. The Whitecaps play on an artificial surface that veterans often try to avoid.
3. The game comes at the start of three Miami matches in eight days.
4. Saturday’s outcome probably won’t impact Miami’s competitive prospects.

While it’s impossible to determine exactly which of those factors weigh the strongest, what can’t be debated is that least some of Messi’s persistent absences since his arrival in MLS are directly attributable to the league’s unusual format. And if MLS wants to use Messi’s tenure as a springboard to grow into a league that is among the world’s elite, it needs to use those absences to guide changes to competition structure that makes teams feel more urgency to field their best players.

Even with Messi approaching his 37th birthday, the numbers pretty strongly suggest he is sitting out games that he probably wouldn’t in a different league with a more conventional format and less challenging geography.

If you don’t count direct clashes against Argentina national team games, and you do include the games he played in the 2023 Leagues Cup, 2023 U.S. Open Cup and 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup, Messi has played in about 73% of the competitive fixtures (27 of 37) for which he has been available.

If you’re less forgiving and don’t forgive games played in international windows and include secondary competitions, Messi has only appeared in 56% of his side’s regular season games. Even splitting it into a 67% appearance rate in 2024 and 42% appearance rate in 2023, both ratios are lower than any he posted in the past 17 seasons in Europe, while playing for clubs that were also playing more league games, more Cup games, and more continental matches.

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Messi’s Year-by-Year League Appearance Rate

• 2004-05 Barcelona: 22% (7 of 32)¹
• 2005-06 Barcelona: 45% (17 of 38)
• 2006-07 Barcelona: 68% (26 of 38)
• 2007-08 Barcelona: 71% (27 of 38)
• 2008-09 Barcelona: 82% (31 of 38)
• 2009-10 Barcelona: 92% (35 of 38)
• 2010-11 Barcelona: 87% (33 of 38)
• 2011-12 Barcelona: 97% (37 of 38)
• 2012-13 Barcelona: 84% (32 of 38)
• 2013-14 Barcelona: 82% (31 of 38)
• 2014-15 Barcelona: 100% (38 of 38)
• 2015-16 Barcelona: 87% (33 of 38)
• 2016-17 Barcelona: 89% (34 of 38)
• 2017-18 Barcelona: 95% (36 of 38)
• 2018-19 Barcelona: 89%(34 of 38)
• 2019-20 Barcelona: 87% (33 of 38)
• 2020-2021 Barcelona: 92% (35 of 38)
• 2021-2022 PSG: 68% (26 of 38)
• 2022-2023 PSG: 84% (32 of 38)
• 2023 Inter Miami: 50% (6 of 12)²
• 2024 Inter Miami: 67% (10 of 15)³

¹ Counts matches beginning at his first team debut on Oct. 16, 2004

² Counts matches beginning at his MLS debut on August 26, 2023

³ Accurate as of May 24, 2024

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Does some of this disparity owe to Messi’s advanced age for a pro athlete? Of course. Does all of it? Not a chance, and the proof is in the context.

For example, Messi also missed Miami’s previous away game at Orlando with a knee injury, then played all 90 minutes of a 1-0 home win over D.C. United three days later. That he went the full distance in the latter match strongly suggested suggesting the Orlando absence was a precaution that may not have been taken if the Supporters’ Shield — awarded to the top regular season finisher — was viewed as importantly as league titles are in Europe. In the same vein, a Miami side that could lose its Shield lead this weekend might have also played Messi at least off the bench in a 3-2 league loss to Montreal played between their Concacaf Champions Cup round of 16 series games against Nashville.

But making the Supporters’ Shield matter more wouldn’t solve all of MLS’ availability challenges. And what MLS and Apple TV should be trying to learn from how manager Tata Martino uses Messi and Miami’s other aging stars is which potential competitive changes could have the greatest positive impact on player availability with the fewest negative consequences.

There are tradeoffs for all potential solutions.

Extending the regular season calendar to lessen the number of regularly scheduled midweek games would result in even more cold-weather matches that often have a negative impact on in-person attendence. Canceling games during international windows would also either result in more mid-week games or more cold-weather games. Scrapping or scaling back the Leagues Cup summer tournament would take away what was MLS’ most successful competition on TV/Streaming last season. Shortening and/or restructuring the playoff format to make the regular season more meaningful would probably result in fewer playoff games and less ticket revenue.

Even so, all of those things need to be considered because the status quo would not be acceptable for a truly elite first division. While the lesser competitive load is attractive for players in Messi’s career stage, it almost certainly wouldn’t be for those in their primes trying to prove their contractual and national team worthiness. And if attracting those kinds of players more regularly isn’t MLS’ next goal in the wake of Messi’s tenure and an approaching North American World Cup, then the whole exercise is pointless.

Some outside-the-box thinking is probably needed.

For example, the use of extended road trips for most interconference play could lessen the burden on teams. It’s one thing to take a 7-hour flight to Vancouver. It’s another to take a similar trip to knock out a visit to all three Cascadia teams over eight or nine days.

Split seasons — which Liga MX uses and which have been discussed as a possibility in 2026 for MLS — could add urgency to all regular season games without reducing the inventory of postseason games that Apple TV wants.

Moving the Leagues Cup to the winter in warm weather climates could free up a lot of room on the schedule while minimizing the impact of winter games on the box office.

All of those would be somewhat radical changes — exactly the kind you need to transform a fringe competition to an elite one.