MARCA visits Leo Messi's new "home" in Miami

The

new ‘home’ of Leo Messi, since April, is called NU Stadium

and yesterday it was visited by MARCA. It is the new home of Inter Miami, the reigning MLS champion and a franchise whose value (commercial and sporting) has risen exponentially since the arrival of the Argentine star.

A 30-minute drive from Hard Rock, the stadium where Argentina-Cape Verde is being held today, and close to the international airport, this charming stadium was built, exclusively dedicated to soccer and to Inter, and it hosts the Florida club's matches.

The venue is

charming (26,700 spectators), but with all the comforts and designed t

o generate revenue at every corner, a very ‘made in USA’ stadium with which Inter is growing in economic value in an incredible way.

NU has just been completed, and workers can still be seen laboring around the area, especially in the impressive Freedom Park

that is being built around it and that will offer many commercial services: a giant parking lot, a luxury hotel, restaurants, and other amenities so that Inter fans can have a good experience beyond watching the IM match.

Freedom Park also includes Miami’s largest new public park,

Jorge Mas Canosa Park, and spaces that will host fan zones and other collective celebrations, as well as shops of every kind, not just sports-related ones, such as the club’s official store.

Once

inside the NU, which Inter kindly opens to MARCA, we step into the very locker room

where the lockers of the three franchise players appear and, while waiting for the fourth, who will be the Brazilian Casemiro, are at this moment Leo Messi, Rodrigo de Paul and Luis Suárez, the latter in his last season at Inter.

Next to these three stars, appears the locker of the only Spanish player who now joins the ‘pink’ payroll:

the Madrid-born Sergio Reguilón, former Real Madrid player,

Atlético and Sevilla, among others.

Above the locker rooms, they take us to the most leisurely area of the stadium, the VIP boxes where nothing is lacking and

where the ‘celebrities’ and businesspeople of this bustling city

mingle with Leo’s own family, who have a private box for the enjoyment of their loved ones.

In front of the boxes, which also include the presidential one belonging to the club’s owners, the Mas brothers,

you can make out the ‘Messi stand’, inaugurated in memory of the player who has been, is, and will be the most emblematic in the history

of the ‘pink’ franchise. From the ‘Messi stand’ you can see how football feels very close from any seat in the stadium, as it is a small venue, although it was not roofed when it was built.

On the club’s official website, it is specified that

“there are seats from $40 [slightly less in euros] per match”

and premium seating options including courtside seats, loge seats, boxes, clubs, and suites, “which will redefine the premium seating category through immersion, sophistication, convenience, and comfort.”

Ultimately,

this is the NU stadium, Messi’s new ‘home’,

designed to ensure the survival of this franchise... when Leo is no longer there.