Some performers (athletes, singers, creators of artwork) are money generators while the rest of us do their best to get the money from the former, with different results. Naturally countries and cities try to attract the most prominent performers to visit and performer there, believing that the performers would draw visitors from surrounding areas to visit. At times when a country/city wants to jump start its economy, hosting top performers is near the top of the list of potential solutions. Better yet, the performer would become a spokesperson for the places they visit, preferably (for the hosts) for free (good luck trying to convince them to agree to that).
With Hong Kong's economy reeling from the pandemic and China's stalled growth, the government is trying to attract top performers to bring their act to the city. To its dismay, most of them have (so far) chosen to visit other cities in East Asia, with some even picking Macao over Hong Kong. So when Lionel Messi (his team, Inter Miami, to be exact) decided to play a exhibition match in the city, officials tried very hard to hide their glee. After Messi sat out the whole match, the city turned on him. Fans in the stand demanding for a refund — the organizers eventually promised them that they will get half their money back — and officials put the blame on the match's organizers, claiming that the organizers has agreed in writing that Messi would be on the pitch for at least 45 minutes of the match (not knowing or forgetting the existence of the clause "unless injured" in the contract). Messi apparently showed displeasure during the awards ceremony post-match and chose not to shake hands with dignitaries, including the Mayor himself. To add salt to the wound, Messi played the final ~30 minutes of a match in Japan just a few days later.
Messi's actions and emotions shown during his current visit to Hong Kong is surprising as he is not known for acting aloof and smug. He had previously visited and played an exhibition match with no incident. Unless he (or Inter Miami) tells his side of the story, we have no idea what really happened. That didn't stop officials (and state media) labelling him an "agent of foreign adversarial forces" intent to tarnish the city's image, smear the government's narrative that the city has "gone from order to propserity", with some even demanding to ban Messi from entering the city.
Perhaps officials are trying to tell the world "disrespect us and we will hit you with the full force of the Chinese communists' iron fist, as well as the National Security Law (and the soon-to-be-passed Article 23)". Performers visiting the city in the future may act like they enjoy the visit, whether such displays are genuine or not, or risk labelled "Common Enemy of the People".
Of course, performers would still come if the pay is high enough, as Messi himself received $100 million US to serve as a tourism ambassador for Saudi Arabia for 3 years. (There are claims that he was offered $1 million to serve a similar role for Hong Kong. If this were true, one can imagine how he and his team reacted.) There should be no shortage of sponsors willing to offer top dollar to draw the brightest performers to bring their act to Hong Kong, but are they willing to take the financial and political hits should the performance not meet expectations? Don't expect the government foot the bill after seeing the organizers of the Inter Miami match return the $2 million US sponsorship from the government. Even if the government is willing to sponsor an event, the organizers would likely be very hesitant to receive the money. (The government withheld the payment to the organizer of an awards ceremony after red line — apparently using the term 'red line' crossed the line — was used as a topic of discussion between the hosts and two individuals deemed undesirable by the government were invited to as award presenters.)
Even if the performance is secured and the performer arrives to the city without incident, there is a chance that the performance would be cancelled in an instant if an "patriotic" zealot files an "anonymous" compliant (particularly if the complainer is a former Chief Executive whose seemingly only activity is web browsing) stating that the performer was present in pro-democracy demonstrations, shared a post supporting the city's democracy movement, mentioned phrases that the complainer deems politically sensitive or any other act that "severely damages the Chinese people's sensitvities". (Performances have been cancelled after it was discovered members of the crew had participated in the 2019 pro-democracy protests or forwarded slogans, now regarded as seditious, associated with the movement.)
One may wonder if the officials are in fact trying to emulate (or turn the city into an ordinary city in) the People's Republic. (No, not the one directly to the north of Hong Kong, but the one ~2000 km northeast of the city, the one that includes the word "Democratic" in its official title.)