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MIAMI, July 18, 2024 – A South Florida woman has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $50,000 in damages, claiming she and her family were not allowed to attend Sunday night’s Copa America final at Hard Rock Stadium despite having tickets, CBS.com News reported.
Jackie Martinez said thousands of fans were held back as chaos ensued at the stadium gates ahead of Argentina’s match against Colombia, with hundreds of fans breaking through gates, scaling security barriers and fleeing from police.
She said she spent $4,395 on four tickets to the game for herself, her husband, her parents and her 8-month-old son, Luke.
“I really wanted to see the final. I’ve never seen a final in my life. My parents haven’t seen it either. This will be the first time. We bought the tickets when they came out. We didn’t care who was in the final. The final, but when we found out it was Colombia, “I’m from Uruguay but my husband is from Colombia and it was a dream come true for him. He was so excited. He woke up at 6 a.m.,” she told CBS News in Miami.
“When we got there, it was packed with people,” he added. Martinez said his penalty unit was in the 14th row of the 106th section.
“We couldn’t get in. By 7:30 p.m., everyone was panicking because the game had to start at 8:00 p.m.,” he explained.
The match was delayed for more than an hour and 20 minutes, with Argentina defeating Colombia 1-0 to become continental champions. She said she and her family never went inside or watched the match.
“I’m shocked. I’m sad. Seeing the final is like a dream come true for us, football is important to us. It’s like someone bought a ticket to the Super Bowl and can’t get in. It’s very sad “I blame the Hard Rock Stadium and CONMEBOL because they should have been prepared and made sure people got into the parking lot, but they didn’t,” Martinez said.
She and attorney Irwin Ast filed a lawsuit against tournament organizers Hard Rock Stadium and the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) seeking more than $50,000 in damages.
“I know there was negligence. It was pure negligence. To organize an event like this, there were no checkpoints set up at the Hard Rock Stadium. You know, in other countries, they have checkpoints set up half a mile from the stadium, and there is no control over the checkpoints here,” his lawyer said.
“What happened was foreseeable. They knew or should have known that people were going to come into the stadium, they took up my clients’ seats and watched the game for free, while my clients were stuck outside. It was a horrible situation,” Astor added.
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