FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — You could hear the parking lot surrounding DRV PNK Stadium before you could see it.
Inter Miami was preparing to introduce perhaps the single biggest signing in American professional sports: Lionel Messi.
The 20,000 fans arriving for Sunday’s event responded in kind. Drums, horns, cymbals, reggaeton. Argentina and Inter Miami flags waving alongside one another, the Albiceleste and the pink-and-black colors rippling in a rapidly darkening sky.
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An hour or so before the gates opened, it looked like a typical south Florida day. But if you’ve ever spent a summer here, you know how quickly the weather can change. The rain fell at 6 p.m. sharp. Hard. Heavy wind and lightning soon followed.
But not even the sudden storm was stopping “The Unveil,” as the event was dubbed. South Florida had waited more than a month for this day, ever since Messi announced June 7 that he would join the club.
Seeking shelter from the downpour, a thousand or so fans crashed the stadium gates during the 90-minute weather delay. By the time the gates officially opened at 8 p.m., it somehow felt like more people were at the stadium grounds than before.
“I don’t take anything away from LeBron [James], but this is like a worldwide level,” said Inter Miami season-ticket holder Carlos Sanchez, comparing Messi’s arrival with when the NBA’s biggest star joined the Miami Heat in 2010.
“This expands beyond Miami-Dade and Broward County,” Sanchez added. “The GOAT is outside.”
