Inter Miami CF may still be chasing honors on the field, but the club’s trophy room of sponsorships is already glittering with silverware.
Ever since it was just a rumor, South Florida’s premier Major League Soccer team has been draped in stardust: after an ownership team featuring legend David Beckham and billionaire construction magnate Jorge Mas launched the club in 2018, Inter Miami scored a global icon when Argentine phenom Lionel Messi, widely considered one of the game’s best-ever players, joined in 2023. The effect hasn’t just been spectacular skills and goals: Messi’s popularity pushed MLS team sponsorship to a record-breaking $587 million (+15% y/o/y) across 23 categories.
That’s been good news for beverage brands from across the spectrum, whether it’s a new league-wide sponsorship deal for Powerade or a chance for Guayakí to team with LA FC.
But few have expanded as aggressively as Messi’s own club: in the past 12 months, Inter Miami has brought on the likes of Splendor (Official Premium Water), Flow (Official Spring Water), LaCroix (Official Sparkling Water), 100 Coconuts (Official Coconut Water) and Ketel One (Official Vodka) as partners, joining a roster that already includes names like Celsius, Cafe Bustelo and Cervecería La Tropical.
But the club’s latest deal is perhaps the biggest, and least surprising: last week, Inter Miami announced Más+ by Messi as its Official Sports Hydration partner. As of last week, the brand — operating as Más+ Next Generation Beverage Co., a co-venture with Mark Anthony Brands launched in June 2024 — is now available as a concession at Chase Stadium, which will also host activations for Más+ during games and incorporate signage throughout the venue. The line will also be integrated in training at all levels, from the club’s Academy to Messi and his teammates.
In some ways, it’s merely formalizing a natural partnership: the reception for Más+ in South Florida since making its debut there has been “spectacular,” said former Pepsi executive Rishi Daing, Executive Vice President at Más+ Next Generation Beverage. The company has also been keen to remind everyone that Messi’s family, friends and teammates all helped to inspire the product itself. The alignment of the Argentine superstar’s professional and business interests makes sense — so long as it doesn’t conflict or cannibalize Inter Miami’s other hydration partners.
Daing is confident that’s not the case here. “We don’t have concerns, primarily because Más+ by Messi is so much more than a regular hydration or sports drink, and there is nothing else like it in the market,” he said, citing its low sugar and balanced electrolyte complex.
While Messi aims to deliver the MLS championship to Miami this year, the player’s nascent beverage venture is tracking more steady progress; Más+ is currently in about a dozen states in and is targeting national distribution this year, primarily through beer houses, for its single-serving 16.9 oz. PET bottles (cans are just for variety 12-packs). Daing says the company has shipped 500,000 cases and that 3.5 million units have been consumed. Innovation beyond the existing four SKUs is forthcoming, he added. Those growth plans come as a legal battle with Congo Brands and PRIME simmers on the back burner.
That approach and belief in the product itself will help the brand as it starts to look beyond the limits of Messi’s playing career, which is surely close. Inter Miami’s deal with Más+ runs through December 2027; the player’s contract ends after this season, though he’s expected to extend terms.
“While soccer will be central to the brand through Leo Messi, we know that Más+ by Messi has been embraced by a much wider demographic than just soccer fans,” said Daing. “The Más+ by Messi brand stands for even more than soccer. As we continue to scale, we will look for ways to connect with a broad range of consumers across sports, lifestyle, and culture.”