One of the biggest side effects of the “Messi effect” has been teams taking the show on the road to play in bigger stadiums, maximizing the draw that they can achieve. From Los Angeles FC starting off the season by playing at the LA Memorial Coliseum to now, D.C. United moving a home game to Baltimore to play at the home of the Ravens, M&T Bank Stadium, in front of a crowd that’s expected to hit over 60,000 fans.

How to watch D.C. United vs. Inter Miami, odds

• Date: Saturday, March 7 | Time: 4:30 p.m.
• Location: M&T Bank Stadium — Baltimore, Maryland
• Live stream: Apple TV
• Odds: D.C. United +340; Draw +330; Inter Miami -165

That expectation also opens the possibility that D.C. United will break their home attendance record of 57,431, facing the Colorado Rapids in the 1997 MLS Cup final. But, if D.C. United only wanted to get as many fans in as possible; they could’ve tried to play this match at Northwest Stadium, home of the Washington Commanders. So, why Baltimore?

That was a question posed to D.C. United president Danita Johnson and it’s clear that this game is just the tip of the iceberg for D.C. United in Baltimore.

“One of the reasons we really looked at Baltimore, and we love our neighbors, the Commanders, was really about taking it into Baltimore itself. For us at D.C. United, we have a lot of ties in Baltimore, we’re talking about our other Baltimore projects in the future, from MLS Next Pro, how we want to develop a women’s soccer team in that area, and, in addition to that, it’s been a hotbed for us from a youth perspective,” Johnson said.

“We have had a lot of young players that came through our academy, even players on our first team that have come out of Baltimore, so I think for us, kind of going up to Baltimore was a connecting point for us in what we see as a growing area for soccer itself.”

This isn’t the first time that Baltimore and Washington D.C. have worked together on a soccer project as the two cities bid to host World Cup games, with D.C. being the host city while matches are played in Baltimore, due to there being a growing soccer culture in Baltimore. With another team not coming into the area, D.C. United is looking to capitalize on a planned project to bring a multi-team soccer campus to Charm City.

That campus, backed by NBA Hall of Famer and Baltimore native Carmelo Anthony, would include a youth academy, a 7,500-seat stadium, and a women’s team competing in the USL Super League, while the men’s team would compete in MLS Next Pro. This project has been years in the making, with the Baltimore Blast in the Major Arena Soccer League and Christos FC in USL League Two, being the only major soccer presences in the city that aren’t college teams.

With things like this, the club is focused on making a full community impact in Baltimore, with match posters designed by the Baltimore Boys and Girls Club and a performance by Wale being among the many highlights of the clash. Buses are also available via the club for D.C. United fans who may have originally been planning to see the match at Audi Field to make the trip to Baltimore easily. It’s a fine balance between playing games out of market and ensuring that they still feel like home matches, and it’s something that the club has taken into account.

“Before we even announced the game and we were going through it, one of the first things we really sat back and thought about is how do we take care of our season ticket members and our supporters, and what can we do to make this an easy opportunity,” Johnson said.

American fans are used to games shuffling around like this with NFL and NBA teams playing abroad but this is slightly differnet with D.C. United, looking to expand their reach into a city that usually has a friendly rivalry with their local sports teams but with Baltimore lacking soccer, there is an opportunity to make an impact if the club can enter the city in a way that’s mutually benifcial for the club and the community.

For the players, of course, things are simpler. In some ways, at least. They know that they have the tall task of defeating Lionel Messi and Inter Miami, but midfielder Jackson Hopkins put it well that this is what players strive for: facing the best teams in the world in front of packed stadiums.

“We’re really treating it like any other game. Home or away, we want to go win and play the way we want to play, and just come out with the win is what we’re really focused on, so if it’s a home or away game, it doesn’t really matter; it’s just another game to all of us,” Hopkins said.

That’s one aspect of Messi being in the midst of his third full season in MLS, where things do shift. Fans may still have a chance to face him for the first time, but most players have had a chance to face him, and while they’ve struggled to stop him while the Argentine has collected consecutive MVP awards, there are ways to defeat Inter Miami as long as the only focus isn’t on stopping Messi.