Inside Lionel Messi to Inter Miami: Don Garber shares MLS' involvement and what's next ahead of Messi Mania

MLS commissioner gives insight to Lionel Messi landing at Inter Miami and how the league could simplify its roster rules in the future

Major League Soccer dreamt of seeing the day a player like Lionel Messi followed the footsteps of David Beckham and Thierry Henry, plying his trade in front of an ever-growing North American market. We began to see hints publicly as early as January of 2018 -- when MLS formally announced Inter Miami CF, through the Miami Beckham United investment group, as the league's 25th franchise -- that the Argentine World Cup winner may one day bring his talents to South Florida.

As the league and Inter Miami prepare for what can only be described domestically as the soccer equivalent of Beatlemania sweeping through the United States and Canada, MLS commissioner Don Garber met with a group of media members near Fort Lauderdale beach where he discussed how they managed to bring arguably the greatest player of this generation here and how the landscape of the league could evolve over time as a result of his arrival.

Garber revealed that Jorge Mas promised him early on to accomplish two things as the team's managing owner, to complete the Miami Freedom Park stadium project "against insurmountable odds" and land Argentina's No. 10. They're halfway to meeting those goals as Messi was introduced as part of "La PresentaSÍon" on Sunday at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, approximately 35 miles away from the stadium project in Miami, located near the Miami International Airport at what used to be the Melreese Country Club.