The summer departures of Lionel Messi, now of Inter Miami, on a free transfer and Neymar to Al Hilal have certainly had an impact on the identity of Paris Saint-Germain on the pitch, but since their exits, there have also been some significant impacts off the pitch, as revealed by L’Équipe.
When Les Parisiens announced the star-studded signing of Lionel Messi from Barcelona, their social media following grew dramatically. During the Argetine’s two-year spell at the Parc des Princes, PSG’s Instagram following grew by 20 million. Since his departure, the Ligue 1 champions’ following on the social media platform owned by Meta has decreased between 10 and 15 million followers.
In addition to the reduction in social media followers, several sponsors of PSG are also questioning their partnership with the French capital club following the departures of the former Barcelona teammates. For example, Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency company, signed a three-year partnership worth €8.5m with PSG following the signing of the World Cup winner. However, with one year left of the partnership, the business is hoping to revise the financial commitment of the partnership with discussions already underway.
More surprisingly, Qatari sponsors including Ooredoo and Qatar Airways have been slow to pay their sponsorship payments to the club. Commercial employees at PSG are also struggling to find sponsors for the club’s training ground and the back of their shirts.
The departures of the two South American stars have also seen ticket resales at the Parc des Princes slow down. Whilst the stadium in Boulonge-Billancourt remains sold out, sales on the official PSG re-selling platform, Ticketplace, have seen a dramatic dip. One long-term member of the Borelli stand at the Parc des Princes has recited difficulty selling tickets that “would sell out in 48 hours last season“. Tickets that have been on sale for three weeks for PSG’s upcoming match against Strasbourg have still not been sold.
GFFN | Liam Wraith
