ATLANTA — Soccer fanatics who are headed to The Benz for global superstar Lionel Messi's highly-anticipated first trip to the city against Atlanta United will now have to get there a little earlier.
Major League Soccer announced Friday that Atlanta United's Saturday, Sept. 16 match against Inter Miami CF has been moved up two and a half hours from 7:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The MLS did not say why the match was being moved up in the day.
Atlanta United confirmed with 11Alive in June that they will be opening up the entirety of The Benz, which includes the upper 300 level, as demand for tickets is expected to be toward the highest of any Atlanta United regular season game ever.
Despite the game just being a little over a month away, tickets are still considerably steep.
- On Atlanta United's official Ticketmaster page, the cheapest tickets in the 300s level are going for $143.30 a piece, which has dropped slightly from the cheapest price of $155.35 11Alive reported back on June 7.
- On the secondary market StubHub, the cheapest ticket is going for $201 a piece in section 344 as of Aug. 4. That is down from the June 7 cheapest ticket listing of $226.
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Messi made his presence known in Atlanta United's first match with him down in South Florida on July 25 as he scored the first two goals en route to an Inter Miami 4-0 shutout.
Messi's move comes after a two-season stay with Paris Saint-Germain and, before that, a decorated and legendary career at Barcelona. He had been rumored to be considering a return to Barcelona or a lucrative offer to go to Saudi Arabia, comparable to Cristiano Ronaldo's recent move.
Messi's trip to Atlanta will pit him against Argentina teammate Thiago Almada, the dynamic young Atlanta United star.