Meet the world’s best soccer player(ish) at Miami’s new Messi Experience

I’m standing in a mock TV studio in front of a wall of giant monitors broadcasting the mean things Argentine fans have said about Lionel Messi, Argentina’s national soccer captain and perhaps the greatest player of all time. There is.

“Messi, you once quit the Argentina national team,” said one supporter after Argentina were eliminated from the 2018 World Cup, marking Messi’s fourth trip to the tournament. became. “I wouldn’t mind thinking about doing it again.”

This is our hero’s lowest moment and the emotional nadir of his life story. messi experience, a new “immersive” experience that opened in Miami last week. The nine-room walk-through extravaganza pays tribute to Messi’s life and career with his AI, 3D and CGI, and features a hangar (actually The Hangar) in the city’s Coconut His Grove district. It is exhibited at (called).

Perhaps it’s a new era of tourist attractions that rely less on history, art, and physical thrills (museums, galleries, theme parks, etc. that dominate this sector), and more on the attraction of living celebrities – on technology. It may signal the beginning of This provides a sense of personal intimacy and allows exhibitions to be held simultaneously in multiple cities around the world.

Or maybe it’s just the combination of too many video screens and special effects that gives you a headache.

It’s the work of two Miami showmen, Andres Naftali and David Rosenfeld, whose company Primo Entertainment has produced concerts for Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. Recently, we have also expanded to the following digital exhibitions. Beyond Van Gogh (Scheduled to perform in at least seven cities in the US and UK this year) and Frida Kahlo: the life of an icon (Already seen in cities from New York to Sydney, and soon to be rolled out across South America).

In Messi’s case, he partnered with Montreal’s Moment Factory. The company is a multimedia entertainment company that also created the exterior graphics for Las Vegas’ vast new Sphere Arena. When asked about the investment, Rosenfeld would only say that the Messi show cost “millions of dollars.” He hopes to open in Buenos Aires soon, then move to Los Angeles and then open in 80 other cities.

Rosenfeld said the team is “open to depicting other people’s lives in the future.” I can’t help but wonder who would work out — Michael Jordan, maybe Elton John, certainly Taylor Swift’s greatness? “But I don’t think there are many footballers who have transcended as much as Messi,” he added. “I think he connects with people in a different way.”

Surprisingly, I was already soothed by the show’s immersive technology and was moved by Messi’s plight as I listened to the fan criticism. Poor Leo, I don’t think he could win. Then I remembered that he won everything.

I entered the hangar 30 minutes early, exchanging the dazzling tropical lights of South Florida for the dazzling electronic glow of the Experience. First, I gave them my email address and phone number and asked them to take a photo. This allows Messi to create an online profile that allows him to interact with his AI-enabled chatbot on his mobile phone while watching the show.

I was then led into a hallway where an Argentinian appeared as a hologram to greet me. It’s clear that over the next 75 minutes Lionel Messi and I will become friends.

Immediately I go to his childhood bedroom and answer the old-fashioned phone when it rings. It’s FC Barcelona, ​​he has been called up. His grandma is overjoyed. “The Hunger” fits the TV studio setup, but the children’s room feels fake and lacks genuine intimacy. Part of the problem is the lack of authentic memorabilia. Despite his involvement in the project, Messi, who is known for his private life, has not handed over any of his personal belongings.

“At some point we’ll get some artifacts,” Rosenfeld said. “But we had to be as technical as possible because we were installing different equipment in different different cities at the same time.”

It’s true that making the most of technology makes your show better. In the next room, I gazed divinely at a model of FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou, the home of FC Barcelona, ​​as scenes from Messi’s rise to stardom were projected onto the pitch. And it works best when it’s interactive. In one area, they seem to be guided by a projected light to learn how to dribble and shoot. ”like messi”. Or, if the group of women in front of me were less skilled, I would be embarrassed and retreat.

The experience was launched in the city where Messi currently plays, despite being most associated with Barcelona. He plays for Inter Miami, whose franchise David Beckham bought in 2014, and is hoping to occupy the heart of a city that is fast becoming Latin America’s de facto capital. (This year, the final match of the Copa America, the South American club soccer championship, will be held.)

“Miami has always had a passion for soccer, but this is a city of immigrants, so it’s always been for the home team,” said Michelle Kaufman, who writes about soccer for the Miami Herald. “But then Messi arrived with her friends.” She meant veterans such as Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, who gave the team the feel of the Expendables of soccer. superstars.

Now, with the foundations of a new $1 billion site being built next to Miami International Airport, Kaufman says, “You see Inter Miami pink shirts everywhere. A man who never wore pink. , I wear pink proudly.”

I feel like the experience needs to be refined. Messi’s words of encouragement generated by his AI in the recreated locker room – telling him to “come closer” – are so low-powered that one wonders why it took him so long to win the World Cup. Now I can understand why it took so long. If this is an AI, it’s not Kubrick’s HAL. 2001: A Space Odyssey I typed “Messi” into ChatGPT.

But the reenactment of the open-top bus tour of Buenos Aires where Messi and his team celebrated winning the World Cup is truly thrilling. I’m standing on the top deck surrounded by a sea of ​​3D people, flags flying below. It may be stationary, but it doesn’t feel like it. (The real story is that the crowd was so large that the players had to abandon the bus and go to the helicopter.)

When I get too sarcastic, my friend who came with me reprimands me. Issa had the potential to become a professional athlete, but his parents convinced him to turn down an athletic scholarship for his studies. As he said, I felt a sense of sadness. “This show reminds us how completely sports can change a person’s life. Kids will love it.”

In the final room, we took a photo with a holographic Messi. He sticks out his thumb, now we’re one of them. Then we walk out into the real world and watch a beautiful Miami sunset and boats passing by on the bay.

It’s the night of the grand opening, but while Latin celebrities mill around, Messi himself is nowhere to be seen. According to Rosenfeld, the soccer player is “a humble person, a family man, a very modest person.” Well, I’ll always have his avatar.

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