On Sunday, fans barraged through the gates at Hard Rock Stadium to watch Argentina face Colombia. Videos and images surfaced of barricades falling at the entrances to the stadium concourse. Additionally, there were swaths of people waiting to get into the stadium as organizers locked entrances to maintain control. That did not stop people from climbing over walls or sneaking through air ducts to get into the arena.
According to Miami radio show personality Mike Ryan, CONMEBOL purposely oversold the number of tickets to the final beyond the number of seats available. If the report that was aired on The Dan Le Batard Show is true, it raises additional questions and concerns about the safety of the attendees at the game.
As the organizers for the event, CONMEBOL, the governing body of soccer in South America, did not establish firm control of the event’s ticketing. CONMEBOL failed to set up perimeters and checkpoints for the Copa America Final.
Indeed, Ryan noted that CONMEBOL did not properly check tickets when fans were parking for the event. As a result, there would be people without tickets tailgating and taking part in the pregame festivities at Hard Rock Stadium. The only place that could properly check tickets with codes and scanners was just ahead of the gates.
Unfortunately, fans took advantage of CONMEBOL’s carefree approach to checkpoints. With fans so close, the situation turned dangerous fast. The events outside the stadium delayed the game between Argentina and Colombia by 82 minutes.
CONMEBOL puts pressure on Miami for World Cup tickets
Despite failing to adequately prepare for the Copa America Final, CONMEBOL has not yielded. Instead, it continues to point the blame at Hard Rock Stadium authorities.
“In this situation, CONMEBOL was subject to the decisions made by the Hard Rock Stadium authorities, according to the contractual responsibilities established for security operations,” CONMEBOL said. “In addition to the…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/copa-america/report-conmebol-sold-more-tickets-than-seats-for-miami-final/
Author : Kyle Fansler
Publish date : 2024-07-17 15:42:56
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