Lionel Messi Declines $1.9B To Play The Long Game

0:00All right. So we're going to talk about how Messi, Messi is basically one of the greatest Argentinian football players, one of the best football players ever played. the game. He has declined over$1.9 billion and he wants to play the long game. So do you know the story here, Neil? Yeah, I read different numbers. I've seen numbers all over the board from 1.6. I haven't seen the 1.9 yet, but it could be a depending on the currency you're talking about and be depending on the news source you're reading. Yeah. So he had three options. He wanted to play in Barcelona and supposedly he was willing to play for free, but there's laws that prevent that.

0:36The other option was Saudi Arabia. The other option was playing for inner is inner Miami. And it's a football club there. I think David Beckham owns it. He would get paid some money. He would get a larger Adidas contract or some more money from Adidas. He would also get some cut from Apple because Apple's paying, I think it's what? Ad revenue. Yeah. 200 and something or$250 million a year for MLS rights. And from what I read, he would also have the option to buy an expansion club or open up an expansion club for pennies on the dollar. And supposedly David Beckham's club or the average MLS club in the United States is worth around a half a billion dollars.

1:18You have good memory. Okay, so let me just break down David Beckham's deal first. So just so everyone knows, David Beckham was also a popular football player. He played for Tottenham, I think they're called the Spurs, right? The Galaxy, you mean? No, no. Well, he did go to Galaxy, but back for the Premier League, he played for Tottenham. I don't even know if I'm pronouncing that correctly. You know what I'm talking about. I thought he played for Manchester United. I'm sure he played for Manchester United too. But anyway, point being here is that when he moved over, so David Beckham, he owns Inner Miami and Inner Miami is actually now valued at around$600 million.

1:52So when he moved over from the Premier League or just European football in general, when you move over to MLS, it's considered a huge downgrade because it's not that competitive in the United States, right? The footballers just aren't as good. And so he moved over and he earned about$255 million over five years. That's a lot of money, certainly, but it wasn't, I don't think it was as comparable to what the best football players would make in Europe, for example, right? And so just for some context here, hopefully it's not getting too mixed up, but according to what I I read Messi was offered about$400 million a year or something like that, or a period of time.

2:28So that's$400 million a year, right? So anyway, going back to David Beckham, not to confuse things. So David Beckham earned$255 million over five years. He purchased, so he got the right to purchase Inter-Miami for$25 million. It's now valued at$600 million. And so that is a smart move because everyone initially laughed at him. And now because he played the long game, he chose to defer his games until later. He's now going to realize the games. And that's what Messi is doing as well. Beckham played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain or PSG.

3:07This is based off of Wikipedia. I don't know if he actually played for each of those clubs or just got traded because some of them say loan. I'm not a soccer slash football type of guy. but you know he played the long game and I think it was smart Messi's also not just thinking about money yeah he'll make money from Adidas and playing and owning a football club but Messi's also looking at it from perspective of being happy in life and there's nothing wrong with you know playing for less money if that means you're going to be happy and who's to say one location is better than the other. It's him, his wife, his life, his family, his kids.

3:46He has to do what he feels is best for him. Well, I mean, sure. Yes. Agreed. But also I think the revenue shares are good. And plus he gets a chance to buy a stake in a team later. I think it's setting him up for the future. And so let's call it. What would have you done? Option? What have you taken? In his, if I were messy, literally same assets, everything right in his state right now, I would have done this deal. Yeah. You, you would have done, you would have gone for a billion. You would have gone for a 2 billion. I think it's like, you know, how much more money do you really need at the end of the day?

4:16Right. And so if he's like trying to play the long game, he wants to own a sports team. Then I think this is the move because the Saudi deal, I mean, I'm sure he gets to buy like minority stakes and all that. I don't know if he gets access here because now I think, you know, now he's talking with the Apple, you said he had the Apple deal and who else did he have? Adidas. Adidas. Right. So I'm like, okay, how much further can he take it? Because he's now trying to spearhead his business career. And that's how I'm looking at it, right? So anyway, the other thing to call out. Saudi Arabia charges residents and expats zero income tax.

4:47This is based on greenbacktaxservices.com. So if I were to take a Saudi deal. I would have taken the Saudi deal, convince him to give me the money up front and then go and bought my own football club with that 1.9 or 2 billion or whatever it is because you can buy a massive club with that kind of money. Yeah, we'll see what happens here. But the other thing, Neil, I don't know if you follow this part, but just the branding matters because Messi is a brand. And as soon as he joined, as soon as it was announced that he signed to enter Miami CF, the Instagram page grew by like 5 million followers.

5:18And so brand matters as well. But, you know, the$2 billion matters a little more here. So I would have taken the$2 billion. Like, let's just face it. $2 billion is$2 billion. I'm just going to say, look, if my net worth is already a couple hundred million bucks at that point, then I might as well just go for, you know, swing for the fences. right and gamble that's where my head's at like meal's answer is more practical million dollars and billions of dollars well okay hey let's ask bard right now so messy career i already know what it means to have millions of dollars i don't know what it means to have billions of dollars there's a big difference i have a lot of friends with billions of dollars i don't have that trust me let me let me describe okay just so everyone knows here the difference between a million and a billion.

6:01Do you know in time? Do you know what the difference is, Neil? Okay. So a million in time would be, a million seconds would be 11 weeks, approximately. I'm paraphrasing here. I think I'm right here. So 11 weeks. Now, a billion in time would be 31 years. 31 years versus 11 weeks. Okay. I'm just looking at Bart over here. This could be a little inaccurate, but as of 2023, his estimated net worth is around, estimated to be$600 million. He earns a salary of$75 million dollars a year from psg 500 million salary from various clubs over the years and so yeah i don't know the more i read this maybe i should i would take the two billion but you know screw it let's go for it six seven hundred million is not two billion all right that is it for today please don't forget to rate resubscribe five stars it helps us grow and we will see you tomorrow