Replica shirts bearing his name are flying off the shelves, followers are flocking by the million to his new club’s social media accounts and TV rights suddenly look a bargain:
Lionel Messi’s arrival in Paris has set the big money train in motion.
Paris St Germain Chairman Nasser al-Khelaifi bluntly told reporters that people would be “shocked” by the revenue the 34-year-old six-time Ballon d’Or world player of the year would bring to the club he joined as a free agent the previous day.
In PSG’s flagship shop in central Paris, one fan who queued two hours to buy a Messi shirt as soon as the Argentine signed, was more than happy to part with the 165 euros ($A260) his purchase cost.
Amazon, which in June won the rights to broadcast 80per cent of the top French division’s matches at a fraction of the original price after partner Mediapro pulled out, is certainly among the winners, said sports marketing expert Vincent Chaudel.
“Amazon… already got its early Christmas present in June and now just won the lottery. Broadcasting so many matches for so little money, with (Messi) on top of that … it’s all a big win,” said Chaudel.
“The second winner is PSG, which will consolidate its spot among the world’s biggest clubs.”
According to activity tracker Talkwalker, from last Friday PSG gained three million followers, including 2.1 million on Instagram and 611,000 thousand on Facebook.
An estimate by Front Office Sports showed a 4.5 million increase on Instagram alone over the past 24 hours.
