MLS · Inter Miami

Messi earns $28.3m at Inter Miami. Only $803,125 counts against the MLS cap

Messi's 2026 guaranteed pay is $28,333,333. Here's why only $803,125 hits Miami's salary cap, and what the club's whole payroll looks like.

Footy Cap desk · 17 October 2026

Lionel Messi's guaranteed pay at Inter Miami in 2026 is $28,333,333, the highest in MLS. Only $803,125 of it counts against Miami's salary cap, because he is a Designated Player and the club pays the rest from its own pocket (MLSPA; MLS roster rules).

That gap, more than $27.5m, is the whole story of how Miami fits Messi, Rodrigo De Paul and Germán Berterame into a league with a salary cap.

What Messi actually earns

The players' union salary guide, published in April, lists Messi on a $25m base salary and $28,333,333 in guaranteed compensation (Miami Herald, citing the MLSPA guide). Guaranteed compensation is base salary plus signing and guaranteed bonuses, spread over the contract. It leaves out performance bonuses.

It also leaves out his commercial deals. Miami owner Jorge Mas has said he pays Messi between $70m and $80m a year once everything is counted (The Athletic). That is Mas's own claim and has not been published in any accounts, so we do not use it anywhere else on Footy Cap.

For scale: the Athletic notes Messi's guaranteed pay is more than the entire wage bill of every other MLS club except LAFC (The Athletic).

How only $803,125 counts against the cap

Every MLS club has a 2026 Salary Budget of $6,425,000 for its top 20 players. No single player can count for more than $803,125 against it (MLS roster rules).

The Designated Player rule lets a club sign up to three players who earn more than that. Each counts for $803,125 if he is 24 or older, and "the club bear[s] financial responsibility" for everything above it (MLS roster rules).

Add it up and Miami's three DPs are guaranteed $41,845,853 between them. Under the standard charge, $2,409,375 of that sits on the cap. The rest is owner money.

Miami's whole payroll

Miami's total 2026 guaranteed compensation was $54,574,541 in the union's April release (AP, via MLSPA). Messi alone is 51.9% of that. The three DPs together are 76.7%.

The cap rules give clubs other tools on top of the $6,425,000 budget. In 2026 each club received $3,280,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) and $2,125,000 in discretionary Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) (MLS roster rules). Clubs use both to "buy down" the cap hit of players earning above the maximum charge.

After the summer window closed, MLS listed Miami with $142,300 of 2026 GAM available as of 15 September (MLS). In February, at the roster compliance date, the league's club roster profile had shown $17,361 (MLS club roster profiles, Feb 2026). The number rose between the two dates; MLS does not itemise why.

Who pays for it

MLS caps what counts on the budget, not what an owner can spend. Miami's local revenue topped $200m in 2025, roughly half matchday and half commercial, by Sportico's estimate (Sportico). That is an estimate, not filed accounts; MLS clubs do not publish them.

Miami's finances around the Messi deal

Set against an estimated $200m of local revenue, Miami's $54.6m first-team payroll is about 27% of income, which our health grade reads as normal. That is why the club scores a B despite a payroll of that size. It cannot be scored on debt, because none is published.

Quick answers

How much is Messi paid per year at Inter Miami? $28,333,333 in 2026 guaranteed compensation, on a $25m base salary (MLSPA).

Is Messi under the MLS salary cap? Yes, but only at the Designated Player charge of $803,125. The rest is outside the cap (MLS roster rules).

Who are Miami's Designated Players? Messi, De Paul and Berterame (MLSsoccer.com, 11 May 2026).

Every player figure above is on our Inter Miami page, alongside the rest of MLS.

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