Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas vigorously defended stars Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba for missing Wednesday’s MLS All-Star Game and said the league rule requiring a suspension for missing the exhibition needs to be changed and is “draconian.”
Mas called a press conference hours after the league announced it was upholding its rules and that Messi and Alba would miss Saturday’s critical Eastern Conference showdown against first-place FC Cincinnati after neither player attended nor played against Liga MX’s stars in Austin, Texas.
Mas said Messi and Alba were informed earlier in the day about the decision and that their reaction was “as expected.”
“Obviously it was not a positive reaction,” Mas said. “They want to compete. They want to play games. That’s what they’re here for: to play and win. They understand the magnitude of tomorrow’s night’s game. So the reaction was exactly as expected out of two competitive players who don’t understand the decision. Who don’t understand why not attending an exhibition match leads directly to a suspension. The rule is what it is, but they don’t understand it.”
Mas said he was “hopeful” the decision “doesn’t have an impact long-term” with Messi, who is negotiating an extension to his current deal with Inter Miami. His contract ends at the conclusion of the 2025 season.
“He’s very upset, extremely upset today, as expected,” Mas said. “I’m hopeful it doesn’t have an impact long-term. Will it have an impact initially, in the players’ perception of how the league rules work? Absolutely no doubt.”
Mas said it was a club decision to let the players skip the All-Star Game and rest in the midst of a heavy stretch of games. He also said that had Alba left the last league game in the first half instead of the second due to a slight injury, the current rule about missing the All-Star Game would not have applied.
Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba are forced to sit out Saturday night vs. FC Cincinnati (Photo by Jeff Dean/Getty Images)
“During the course of this year, we have to date played, already, 33 games,” Mas said. “I consider each and every game that Inter Miami plays an All-Star Game for obvious reasons. And I wanted today to express our full support, both to Lionel and to Jordi, as a decision for them to sit this week was a decision made by the club. And I think that that’s an important point. They were coming off a run of nine games in 35 days. Hard games. The last two games previous to this Wednesday were games on the road on Wednesday at Cincinnati, on Saturday in New York. We’re facing a game tomorrow, and we’re facing a course of 10 games over the next 34 days.
“There is a rule in the MLS, which, if they miss the All-Star Game, they’re suspended for one game. I believe it’s a bad rule, but it’s a rule nonetheless. And it’s a bad rule because I think it puts the players in an untenable position to have to choose between participating in an All-Star festivity, which is an exhibition match, or choosing a regular-season game that I think matters, and I admire both Lionel and Jordi for always thinking of club first.”
Mas said the players and club had discussed Messi and Alba potentially traveling to Austin but not participating in the game, but then ultimately “both of them decided against that for obvious reasons, because it would take away from their preparation.”
“The communication on all ends probably wasn’t handled ideally,” Mas said, on letting the league know that the two star players would not fly to Austin or take part in the game. “It was all a very short time frame.”
Mas also noted that the rule hurts “the club, the fans, sponsors” and league media partner Apple.
“I allude to what the commissioner said in his statement, that the rule needs to be looked at,” Mas said. “I expressed our disagreement with the decision that the league made, and I had conversations with the commissioner this morning and through late last night, but notwithstanding that the decision is what it is and stands with MLS. But I want to assure everyone that you know, Lionel and Jordi have acted in a way commensurate with what the club would want.”
Mas also advocated for MLS to find a way to play the All-Star Game in a way that doesn’t “force” players to make decisions between attendance and fitness for regular-season games.
“I understand schedule congestion, but we have to find a way where the All-Star Game gives players some time before and/or after,” Mas said. “There are, I believe, six games this evening in Major League Soccer. That is less than 48 hours since playing in an All-Star game. That’s untenable and not right and not fair to the players and the clubs that sent players to the All-Star Game. So the ideal situation would be that, either before or after the All-Star Game, as Javier Mascherano said this morning, the players have some days off so that they can enjoy their time at an All-Star Game. Because ultimately, it’s an exhibition, but it should be something enjoyable among players in Major League Soccer.”
Speaking to Messi’s long-term impact in the league, Mas said the team is going to “take advantage” of the current transfer window “to strengthen our roster.” He said the aim is to win the Concacaf Champions League because that would qualify the team for the 2029 Club World Cup.
“There is no greater event in world soccer than a club making that tournament,” Mas said. “I think that the focus of our league should have multiple teams, as they want to spend, to be able to compete and win the Champions League. And I remind that only one MLS team has won a Champions League, which is Seattle. And I’m hopeful that that can change.”
Asked about Messi’s presence — or lack thereof — impacting league sponsors who pay for the All-Star Game, Mas reiterated that Messi has changed the reach of MLS globally, including for league sponsors.
“Lionel Messi, he is different. He has completely changed the economics of this league, for every single club, every team, every sponsor, the league, media, et cetera,” Mas said. “He’s important. But at the end of the day, Lionel Messi wants to play in competitive matches. … [The All-Star Game is] with league corporate sponsors. League corporate sponsors are already taking advantage of Lionel Messi’s presence in the league, because they are league sponsors. So it’s a question of, how do you make the MLS All-Star Game an event that does not kill the management load on their physical ability to perform. You can still have players attend, and it’s a scheduling issue with that.
“But no doubt Lionel not being here in this game tomorrow is going to have an impact on viewership, ticketing, etc, etc. So it has a negative impact. Not to mention the fact of, if it happened to be that tomorrow night’s game would have been away, Lionel Messi has created, for the first time in the league history, $10 million gates where he goes. Clubs change stadiums so Lionel Messi can perform and play, and Inter Miami can play. And that’s an amazing asset and an amazing thing for the league. I’m just hopeful that in the future we can manage the All-Star Game scheduling with the obvious benefits that Lionel has brought to our league.”
Mas also reiterated that Messi’s reach continues to put MLS on a bigger platform than ever before.
“There’s no doubt that there’s a before and after Lionel Messi in this league,” Mas said. “The things that we’re seeing of a global nature are extraordinary. For example, in the Club World Cup, our game against Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16, I can share was viewed globally by close to 30 million people. If you would have told me, and somebody would have told an MLS team in 2018, that they’d be in a world club tournament and 30 million people would be watching that game, I think they would have signed on the dotted line at the time. But that’s a reality that we’re living in today, and it’s a good reality and a great reality. And I think we just have to adapt rules so that we don’t keep our greatest players off the pitch.”
(Top photo: Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
