i recently watched one of Cristiano Ronaldo's matches in the Saudi Arabian league and it caught my attention how completely empty the stands were... there were barely 5,000 to 6,000 spectators in the stadium, tops.
on the other hand, every match Messi plays in MLS is sold out... even tickets for away games are gone months in advance when Miami plays on the road. and ticket prices jump to 4 or 5 times their normal price for games Messi plays in.
You fans are the problem. So you want to compare US population to that of Saudi Arabia? I don't even want to start unnecessary comparison. But the truth is that many of us started watching Saudi league because of CR7. Before he went there, how many people outside Saudi were following the league back to back? Be truthful? His presence there brought crazy media attention to the league and made more people around the world interested in it.
There are obvious reasons why Messi matches in MLS attracts more people. The US has more bigger population and entertainment market. If you notice, MLS teams always make use of big capacity stadiums.
Instead of always trying to use every little thing to judge who is better, we should just enjoy both of them while we still can. They have given football fans enough memories already and be missed when they finally retire.