As another season of MLS kicks off, Inter Miami are officially the team to beat after lifting the MLS Cup trophy in December, while Lionel Messi collected his second consecutive MVP award following a season where he was involved in a whopping 48 goals, the second-highest total in league history. As far as Messi has gone, Miami has gone with him, but as the team evolves past just being Messi and friends, with the retirement of Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, the club enters a new era.
This season, Miami Freedom Park will open with the Herons moving into the city of Miami proper instead of playing their matches in Fort Lauderdale, and with it, a new MLS dynasty may be forming. Unlike baseball, where the Los Angeles Dodgers can spend to their hearts’ content, MLS is a salary cap league that limits what Miami can do … sort of.
How to watch Los Angeles FC vs. Inter Miami, odds
- Date: Saturday, Feb. 21 | Time: 9:30 p.m. ET
- Location: United Airlines Field at the LA Memorial Coliseum — Los Angeles, California
- Live stream: Apple TV
- Odds: LAFC +101; Draw +270; Inter Miami +240
With General Allocation Money, which is used to buy down players’ salaries to fit under the cap, it gives Miami flexibility to make moves that others can’t, and they use it to the best of their abilities. When the most recent list of allocation money by team was published in January, only three teams had more to work with than Miami’s $6,484,336. And this is before taking into account having the best recruiting tool in the world in Messi.
Everyone wants to play with the Argentine, and whether the Herons are bringing in younger players or taking a look at experienced players to elevate the team, they’re hitting their transfers. Just look at their additions this offseason. Sergio Reguillon may be a gamble at left back, but German Berterame and Dayne St. Clair are clear upgrades at positions of need to make a team that just won the title better. And by winning and receiving an invitation to the Club World Cup, the Herons have just found themselves with more money to spend.
It’s only fitting that they open their season facing Denis Bouanga, Son Heung-min, and LAFC, another team who are able to use Club World Cup participation to their advantage. FIFA’s expansion of the tournament has been a game-changer for teams in the league due to the tournament having a billion dollars on the line for all teams involved. Just for participating, each team were able to expand their coffers of allocation money, while transfers such as Diego Gomez to Brighton only add to it.
That mix is part of the reason why the Herons are able to do things that other teams can’t, but for MLS to not become a league of the haves versus the have-nots, more teams need to push them. LAFC and Vancouver are teams who are doing that, and the level of designated players around the league has risen, but in the face of the World Cup in America in 2026, this is a chance to MLS to take its recruitment to the next level. Some of that will require loosening of roster rules, but as they have allowed for more to be spent on young players in recent years, that’s something that can happen. Miami pushing the envelope is a good thing, just more teams have to join in doing so.
