Lionel Messi is finally coming to the Bay Area. Here’s when

Pelé in America. The Dream Team in Barcelona. If you’re lucky, once in a generation, a true global sports phenomenon finds its way to your city. 

This Major League Soccer season, Bay Area fans will finally get their chance to see Lionel Messi play in person. 

The Standard has learned that the Argentine legend and World Cup winner, now with Inter Miami, is scheduled to play the San Jose Earthquakes on May 14 at PayPal Park. 

Since Messi’s U.S. arrival in 2023, some MLS teams have moved matches in which he’s playing to bigger venues to accommodate the extra demand for tickets. The Earthquakes would have liked to do the same by utilizing nearby Levi’s Stadium but couldn’t secure the 68,500-seat venue because of scheduling conflicts, club president Jared Shawlee confirmed. 

The high-profile match will instead be an intimate affair, with 18,000 fans packed in at PayPal Park, which the Earthquakes share with National Women’s Soccer League team Bay FC. 

Despite the surefire demand for the limited seats, the team will not raise season-ticket prices this year, which start as low as $24 per game, Shawlee said. But the team will have little sway in the resale market, which last year saw secondary ticket prices for MLS matches involving Messi increase by more than 70% from the previous season. 

When Messi played NYCFC last season at Yankee Stadium, field-level tickets were reselling for as much as $9,395. 

“We’re thrilled to host Messi in what’s likely to be his last game ever in the Bay Area,” Shawlee told The Standard. 

Messi, 37, is contracted with Miami through the end of the 2025 season and has previously stated that he will not play for any other club afterward. He last appeared in the Bay Area in 2009 with FC Barcelona during a preseason tour that included practicing at Kezar Stadium and a friendly match at Candlestick Park. 

It is not immediately clear if the Earthquakes, who are owned by John Fisher, will offer refunds or price protections should the superstar not be available to play in May.

In Vancouver last season, the club discounted in-stadium concessions by 50% after the Miami roadshow arrived without Messi. Other teams offered credit guarantees that could be applied to discount tickets for future games. 

Unlike other professional sports leagues, each MLS team does not play every other team during the regular season. Instead, teams play the majority of their games within their conference — either Western or Eastern — and rotate through a slate of out-of-conference opponents each year. 

The MLS season typically starts in late February and runs through October, with each team playing 34 regular-season games before the top nine from each conference enter a tournament-style playoffs. 

Single game tickets for matches at PayPal Park will be available to the general public on Jan. 9, 2025.

MLS marks its 30th anniversary this season. The league’s first-ever match, between D.C. United and what was then known as the San Jose Clash, was contested in San Jose on April 6, 1996. To honor that occasion, the Earthquakes will host D.C. United on the same day next year. 

At that time, D.C. United was led by Bruce Arena, who went on to coach the U.S. national team and became the league’s winningest head coach. Three decades later, Arena, 73, is in charge of San Jose after the team finished last season with the league’s worst record. 

Other notable home games on the Earthquake’s schedule this year include: