Beyoncé and Lionel Messi to take over LA this weekend, bringing double star power to SoCal
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles is getting ready to welcome two of the world's biggest stars this Labor Day weekend - and their fans are already out and about.
Beyoncé has three shows at SoFi Stadium starting Friday as part of her highly anticipated "Renaissance" tour.
On Sunday, just a few miles north, soccer superstar Lionel Messi will be in L.A. as Inter Miami takes on LAFC at BMO Stadium. The match is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. but LAFC Fan Fest, The Fields LA food hall and stadium gates will open early to provide fans with food, drink and entertainment options before the match.
However, if you want to see the Argentine World Cup winner in person - or hear Queen Bey sing your favorite song - it's going to cost you.
Tickets for the highly anticipated match between LAFC and Messi's Inter Miami are selling on Ticketmaster for hundreds, and some are selling for thousands. The cheapest single ticket on Ticketmaster - a verified resale ticket in the supporters' section - was on sale for just under $500 Wednesday night. Tickets closer to the field were well above that price.
If you want to wear head-to-toe silver at one of Beyoncé's shows, the cheapest ticket we found was going for about $165, but the view is restricted. Tickets are going to be even more expensive Saturday and Monday.
The Messi effect
Ticket prices for Inter Miami games surged across Major League Soccer following Messi's move to the club.
The 36-year-old Messi, who joined MLS from Paris Saint-Germain, played his first Miami game on July 21 in the Leagues Cup and scored 10 goals in seven games in that competition and a U.S. Open Cup semifinal.
Miami has won nine of its last 10 games as Messi's addition gave the team an immediate boost. LAFC will attempt to be the first team to defeat Inter Miami with Messi on the squad.
Since Messi's arrival, the club also signed his former Barcelona teammates, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.
The Beyoncé effect
The Beyhive has been waiting for this tour since last summer and it's been so successful so far, she was blamed for boosting inflation in Stockholm back in June.
It's already broken some major records. According to ABC News, the entire European leg of her tour earned $154 million.
She's also earned $141 million from just the first 12 shows in North America with more dates stretching until October - easily making this her highest-grossing tour yet and the highest for any Black artist since Billboard started collecting tour data more than four decades ago.
ABC News says the entire tour is projected to hit a whopping $500 million thanks in part to those highly anticipated shows in cities like L.A. and her hometown of Houston. If it reaches $525 million, the tour would enter the list of the top 10 highest grossing tours of all time.
The demand
According to experts, the market for concerts is hotter than ever.
Barry Rudin, who runs the aptly named online ticket website Barry's Tickets, said one of the biggest things he's noticed is that the demand has kept up and even climbed throughout the summer.
"In the past, nine out of 10 shows, prices would go down the week of because everybody would be excited and buy early," he said. "Now, it's kind of a mature market. There's so many shows that the prices go up at the end."
The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.
