Lionel Messi and Inter Miami's visit to New England could break the Revolution's attendance record... with over 60,000 tickets already sold for the Herons' April 27 trip to Foxborough

Demand for tickets to see Lionel Messi and Inter Miami have forced the New England Revolution to open the upper bowl at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough - and they might have a sellout on their hands.

According to the team, less than 5,000 tickets remain for the contest - with the figure well on track to pass the club's previous attendance record of 61,316 set for the 2002 MLS Cup final when the Revs hosted the LA Galaxy.

Per ESPN, the old regular-season attendance record for the Revs at a home game dates back to 1997 - when they hosted the Tampa Bay Mutiny in the first game of a doubleheader, which was followed by a Mexico-United States World Cup Qualifying match.

That was held at the old Foxboro Stadium, which was replaced with Gillette in 2002. Gillette's regular-season attendance record is 42,947 dating back to 2015.

It's a glaring difference from just the average home attendance for the New England Patriots - who play in the same building and averaged 63,018 in a season where they had the third-worst record in the NFL.

While fans may be clamoring to see Messi, it's not exactly clear if the Argentine World Cup winner will make an appearance.

Messi has missed multiple MLS matches already this season - with manager Tata Martino stating his hope is to get him healthy for Miami's CONCACAF Champions Cup match against Monterrey on April 3 and April 10.

That two-and-a-half week time window should give Messi more than enough time to recuperate for that Revs game, but it's not so easy to predict these things.

Teams have gambled on Messi playing in their stadiums and lost in the past. For example, last season, the Chicago Fire offered more than 61,000 fans a $250 account credit 'toward new memberships for the 2024 season -- or a $50 account credit for anyone unable to use the new member credit -- to all single game ticket buyers.'