Why Messi is Copying Jake and Logan Paul

The rules of sports have changed. And Messi is playing a game the Paul brothers helped invent

Illustration by K8 Strassman

When Lionel Messi moved to MLS, people saw a sunset chapter — a farewell tour across America at the end of a legendary career. But I think we’ve been missing a parallel enormous shift that Messi’s chapter in the United States represents.

• He signed to a revenue-sharing deal with a streaming platform.

• He launched a low-sugar energy drink brand.

• He appeared in a viral supermarket publicity stunt.

If you follow the creator economy, this playbook might sound familiar. It’s the same strategy Jake and Logan Paul used to become headline athletes — without ever needing world-class skill. Whether it’s intentional or not, Messi is stepping into the creator economy.

I’ve been following Jake and Logan since the Vine days — back when they were more famous for chaos than sports. I was really skeptical when they stepped into the boxing ring for the first time in 2018. Despite being a lifelong YouTube addict, I was not sure whether their online audience would pay to watch them box. I thought it was all noise. I didn’t think people wanted to watch what was basically two average people face off.

But over time, I realized something. They weren’t just gaming the system. They were rebuilding it. They understood way before most professional athletes that in the new sports economy, attention is power, and audience is currency. This is a reality that many league officials and agency publicists are just coming around to accepting, nearly seven years after Logan faced off against fellow YouTuber KSI.

My new video unpacks how Jake and Logan rewrote the rules of modern sports — and how Messi is playing by them.

It’s not just about Prime or Mas+ — Messi’s prime knockoff drink. It’s about how athletes are becoming platforms, and how fans now have more power than ever.

The same way athletes are reclaiming their narratives, I think journalism can do the same. Journalists can go direct to readers and build audience-first publications (on Substack or YouTube or the many other platforms).

Thanks for being a part of it.

Joon

PS: If you’re still reading this far down, thank you! My video next week is a report on how watching sports is a disaster due to the state of streaming services, the collapsing cable bundle and blackouts. I would love to feature reader experiences in the video, so please send me your frustrations, whether in video or text form. Would be much appreciated.