By Prof. Gil Fried, University of West Florida
The championship match between Argentina and Columbia started more than an hour late at Hard Rock Stadium, one of the host sites for the 2026 World Cup, because of crowd issues, including fans breaching security gates. There was a sellout crowd of more than 65,000.
Video posted on social media showed fans, often wearing Colombia’s yellow and red colors, jumping over security railings near the southwest entrance of the stadium and running past police officers and stadium personnel.
A handful of people could be seen receiving medical treatment and asking for water in the sweltering heat. Officers were able to push the crowd behind the gates and lock down the entrance so that no one could get inside, although plenty of fans with tickets had already made it to their seats before the gate closure. It is worth noting that closing a gate can also create pinch points and cause more injuries.
Security initially appeared to open gates slightly to allow only a handful of fans in at a time, while other angry attendees pushed against the railings trying to force their way in.
After reclosing the gates, security began letting fans in slowly around 8:10 p.m., with the new kickoff time was set for 9:15 p.m., but the commotion did not stop. Fans again broke through the railings.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and chief public safety officer James Reyes released a statement during the game saying the county assigned more than 550 police officers to the stadium detail, plus other personnel from neighboring departments. Through a more detailed investigation will determine the total number of security personnel hard to say there was not enough security when nearly 800 police officers were there according to other sources, which is quadruple what they deploy for Dolphins games and close to Super Bowl numbers. That should have been enough. In fact, they should be praised for keeping the peace during the game after a decision was made to open gates to avoid stampedes, which allowed many non-ticketed fans to enter. Police officers were seen checking tickets row by row, asking non-ticketed fans to vacate the seats.
The venue noted that it worked in collaboration with CONMEBOL, CONCACAF and local law enforcement agencies for the Copa America final. Security measures included an increase in the number of law enforcement officers and security at and around the stadium.
CONMEBOL, South America’s governing body, posted a statement on X a day before warning that fans must have tickets to even enter the parking lot of the venue.
Not the First Time There Was Criticism
The tournament and its organizers were again heavily criticized after a melee following Colombia’s 1-0 win over Uruguay in their semifinal match.
Just after referee César Ramos blew the final whistle, Darwin Núñez and Uruguay teammates climbed a staircase into a raucous crowd, and video showed Núñez hitting a fan in Colombian team colors.
Uruguay captain José Giménez said players went in the crowd to protect their families, including their wives and children who were seated in the stands behind the Uruguay bench. Coach Marcelo Bielsa later criticized tournament organizers for not doing enough to protect their families, as it took more than 10 minutes for police to arrive and restore order.
This is not an unusual circumstance anymore. Similar incidents have happened in the US and internationally. So, the question is what can be done.
What Can be Done?
Here are some suggestions.
1) Work with local elected officials to make it a more significant crime to rush into a venue without a ticket. I feel it should be a felony because you are putting other people’s lives at risk. There should also be a significant fine and a lifetime ban from the venue and any other sport venue in the United States. This possibly could be enforced with facial recognition technology.
2) Develop multiple concentric levels of protection, with each level getting more difficult. In Israel, they start the process of examining fliers over a mile away from the airport entrance. There can be various gates and fenced in areas much further away than the entry gate and they could be considered restricted areas with only certain people with valid credentials allowed there. Parking attendants could be tasked with viewing tickets to make sure only authorized ticketed fans are allowed into the venue’s footprint.
3) Utilize very visible and non-removable arm bands that are only given the day of the event, and no one is allowed to know the color before the gates open. There are options thar destroyed when they are removed.
4) Ask uniformed officers to approach people who are no in a seat or keep migrating and ask them for their proof of a ticket. Anyone who does not have proof their ticket/phone was scanned would be prosecuted for trespass.
5) Create a database of fans who have been caught in the past and don’t allow them to buy tickets for an event or send them a warning they are not welcome in the venue.
These steps might seem draconian, but the alternative is that we will have another event where out of control fans will cause others to lose their lives all for the sake of sneaking into a venue to save some money or enter into an already sold-out capacity event.
