SEATTLE - Several soccer fans who bought tickets to watch the Copa América 2024 final at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami are filing lawsuits after being prevented from entering the stadium during the chaotic event.
Jackie Martinez told Noticias Telemundo she spent more than $4,000 on tickets so she, her husband and her parents could watch Argentina take on Colombia on July 14. But despite the high prices she paid for legitimate tickets, they never made it inside the venue. Now she is suing Hard Rock Stadium and CONMEBOL, the South American Football Confederation, for $50,000. Other fans have taken similar actions after going through the same experience.
The issue started after security and police members were not able to prevent thousands of ticketless fans from entering the stadium, a situation that led to chaos at the gates and the delaying of the game. Outraged fans argue the situation was a consequence of negligence and bad crowd control measures from organizers.
"The unlawful entry of individuals into the arena was a foreseeable consequence of Defendant's failure to implement adequate crowd control measures, security protocols, and ticket verification processes," reads a passage of Martinez's lawsuit.
Another suit filed by fan Isabel Quintero and reported by El Nuevo Herald mentions the "complete lack of training, preparation or protocol by security members."
A day after the final, Hard Rock stadium posted on its X account that it will work in partnership with CONMEBOL to address individual concerns, as Ticketmaster's policies state that only event organizers can determine whether refunds will be allowed or not.
StubHub also said in a statement that "for unique issues like this, we tend to follow the approach of the event producers and primary ticket providers but we are still waiting for information from them," the statement read in part. "Any customers who have contacted us will be notified when more information is made available."
CONMEBOL tried to shift the blame towards Hard Rock Stadium authorities, saying that they were subject to the decisions made by the stadium's authorities and "in addition to the preparations determined in this contract, CONMEBOL recommended to these authorities the procedures proven in events of this magnitude, which were NOT taken into account."
But while organizers figure how what and how things went wrong, Ast, Martinez's lawyer, says that a Florida law protects customers like hers. "There's the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, and you can't sell people tickets and deny them entry," Ast said. "They bought these tickets years ago. This was a hardship, a sacrifice, this was like their vacation."
Hours after the game, Daniella Levine Cava, mayor of Miami-Dade county, condemned the scenes at Hard Rock Stadium and pledged to conduct an investigation.
"Let's be clear: This situation should never have taken place and cannot happen again," she said. "We will work with stadium leadership to ensure that a full review of tonight's events takes place immediately to evaluate the full chain of events, in order to put in place needed protocols and policies for all future games."
According to Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster with rights to the event, approximately 7,000 individuals illegally entered the stadium, while another 2,500 ticket holders were left outside.
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