Multiple lawsuits have come down against CONMEBOL and Hard Rock Stadium regarding the Copa America 2024 final. Chaos struck the arena in Miami on Sunday, July 14th ahead of the massive matchup between Argentina and Colombia.
Many looked forward to the mouthwatering matchup. Scenes outside Hard Rock Stadium spoiled any level of excitement. Select fans, some with tickets and some without, barged through the gates at Hard Rock Stadium. As a result, the game’s kickoff time fell back 82 minutes from its original slot.
Although the fans involved are undoubtedly at fault, the tournament organizers should have taken control to avoid the situation. CONMEBOL, Copa America 2024 organizers, are directly responsible for implementing security measures and crowd control. The governing body’s hired security essentially allowed ticketless fans to get to the stadium’s gates.
Jackie Martinez, a South Florida resident who had tickets to the aforementioned game, blames both CONMEBOL and Hard Rock Stadium for the incident. The woman claims that she paid over $4,300 for four tickets to the matchup. She was attending the game with her husband, her parents and her 8-month-old child.
Martinez, however, says that her family failed to even get into the arena. As a result, the fan has officially filed a lawsuit against the Copa America organizers and stadium officials for more than $50,000 in damages.
“When we got there, it was packed,” Martinez recently told CBS News Miami. “We could not get in. When it hit 7:30 p.m., everyone started panicking. The game was supposed to start at 8 p.m.”
“I feel devastated. I feel sad. It was like a dream come true for us to see a final. For us, soccer is a major thing. It’s like somebody buying tickets to the Super Bowl and not getting in. It was very sad for everyone. I fault Hard Rock Stadium and CONMEBOL because they should have been prepared. They should have scanned tickets to make sure people got into the parking lot and they didn’t do that.”
Along with Martinez, three other people also filed similar lawsuits on Wednesday. Legal problems for CONMEBOL and Hard Rock Stadium will undoubtedly only intensify in the coming weeks.
Martinez’s lawyer, Irwin Ast, has claimed that he has specifically heard from around 30 other people who could soon join the lawsuit. These fans were also apparently denied entry into the stadium despite previously purchasing expensive tickets to the game.
CONMEBOL and stadium officials have responded to the dangerous incident ahead of the match by essentially pointing fingers at each other and the fans. The governing body of the sport in South America claims that the security decisions came down from the arena’s staff. They also asserted that stadium officials did not take their recommendations regarding security.
Hard Rock Stadium, however, has denied this assertion and claimed that they were working with law enforcement on the matter. Miami-Dade Police, on the other hand, previously issued a statement lambasting the fans for their involvement.
Although no one is taking responsibility for the unfortunate event at the moment, the courts will ultimately decide on the matter. The lawsuits are only just against the tournament organizers.
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