Come with me on an Inter Miami Stadium Tour

We went to the home of Lionel Messi and David Beckham! 

The main reason for my visit to the states was for Uni! We were based in the Inter Miami stadium for most of the week where we had many guest speakers come and tell their stories, if you’re interested in hearing about that go to my LinkedIn ‘Ellie Killick’ :). 

On our first day we had a stadium tour from Head of Operations at Inter Miami, Chris Craig. The tour was pretty short as the stadium was basic, they’re currently in the process of being moved to central Miami into a bigger stadium. Something that took me a while to get used to in America was the fact they called Futbol and Soccer! Inter Miami really managed to capitalise on Messi’s popularity, there were graphics of his dotted all round the stadium. 

The current DRV PNK (Drive Pink) Stadium name was inspired by the club's collaboration with AutoNation. Their aim is to raise money to support cancer research and treatment. 

Adjacent to the stadium is Inter Miami’s training facilities where the teams from under 12’s to first team train. We didn’t have access to the training centre but from the outside it was so nice and modern! The first team (including Messi!!) actually arrived at the facility while we were there one day, unfortunately I was too busy buying his shirt in the club store so missed seeing him! 

We started in the press conference room which I was happy to see was fully accessible. Chris told us that prior to Messi joining they only had about five journalists that attended compared to now where over 150 attend each game! Pure definition of the Messi effect 😅

The next stop was the changing room, there was a direct route from the press conference room but it wasn’t accessible, so I had to go round. it was a square shape and had a massive Inter Miami logo carpeted in the centre facing the door so was the first thing we saw. Choosing a square shape is an interesting choice because it means some people were out of view of others and doesn’t really give a team vibe. It was a pretty basis design just being black with their values of ‘Ambition’, ‘Collaboration’ and ‘Excellence’ printed round the top of the walls in pink.

The final thing we saw on the tour was the pitch. We went out through the tunnel which had the words Freedom and Inter Miami on either side. The DRV PNK stadium has a capacity of 19,100 and this was when we got our first view of the pink, white and grey seats. Another thing I found strange about American sport is the amount they promote drinking alcohol! Inter Miami are sponsored by Heineken so this was displayed round the stadium. We got to walk alongside the pitch and get pictures in the dugout as we headed back to our base. 

After the tour we got to hear more from Chris about the transition the team had to take when Messi and even David Beckham signed.  As these were the first big stars to join the MLS there was no blueprint to follow so they had to start from scratch. Being head of operations Chris oversaw the process of making sure the stadium was safe with a major security increase being necessary. We also learnt how Messi has a personal security guard (who is an ex-navy seal!) who runs up and down the pitch alongside Inter Miami’s number 10 to make sure he’s safe! That was just crazy to me 😅!

Come back tomorrow to read about my crazy experience watching the Florida Panthers!

Thank you for reading. 

Ellie Xx