The scenes at Sunday’s Copa America final were an embarrassment for CONMEBOL — the South American confederation that organized the tournament — but the Miami Dolphins might be left paying the price.
As people lined up to enter Hard Rock Stadium ahead of the final between Argentina and Colombia, fans without tickets stormed the gates and hopped fences to enter the stadium grounds. Outnumbered police officers tried to regain control of the situation, and the match start was delayed about 90 minutes. But the situation was so out of hand that once the gates reopened, tickets weren’t scanned at all.
That led to absolute mayhem inside the stadium. And according to the Dolphins, unruly fans caused “significant damage” to parts of Hard Rock Stadium’s facilities.
Hard Rock Stadium officials said, via the Sun-Sentinel:
“Throughout the afternoon and evening, there were numerous attempts by unruly fans without tickets to overpower security and law enforcement personnel at entry points to the stadium,” the statement said, later adding that the unruly fans were “fighting police officers, breaking down walls and barricades and vandalizing the stadium, causing significant damage to the property.”
Videos hit social media showing fans crawling through vents to gain access to the stadium in addition to damaging other barriers. Escalators inside the club levels were also completely torn apart.
Here is the video when the escalator broke or the quick aftermath.
@ONLYinDADE #CopaAmerica #Colombia #Argentina pic.twitter.com/Qx4UeGZjJu
— Favian Renkel (@FavianRenkel) July 15, 2024
NEW: The Copa America final saw 27 fans arrested and 55 people ejected from Hard Rock Stadium, Miami-Dade Police Department says in a press release.
There were 800 law enforcement officers from eight different South Florida organizations working the game.
Chief Public Safety…
— Safid Deen (@Safid_Deen) July 15, 2024
Hard Rock Stadium is a venue for the 2026 World Cup, but CONMEBOL — which refused assistance from U.S. Soccer in planning the 2024 Copa — will not be involved with tournament organizing. The Dolphins also have about three weeks to repair the damage (or restrict access to impacted areas) ahead of open training camp at the stadium.
