Hard Rock Stadium Suffers Major Damage During Copa America Final

On Sunday evening, the Copa America final took place at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. Argentina defeated Colombia, 1-0, after Lautaro Martinez scored the winning goal in the 112th minute.

This was Argentina's third consecutive international title after winning the 2021 Copa America and the 2022 World Cup tournaments.

The talk coming out of Miami Gardens on Sunday, though, wasn't as much about La Albiceleste's win and it overcoming Lionel Messi's gruesome ankle injury as it was everything else going on in and around the stadium throughout the evening.

Kickoff was initially delayed 30 minutes after ticketless fans breached the gates of Hard Rock Stadium before the match.

In the videos below, you can see the chaos: Fan congestion led to fans breaching the gates. Some who made their way through were chased down by security. Others who got past security were seen destroying parts of the stadium.

Fans were making every attempt to get into the stadium, such as climbing over the outside ticket offices and opening up and climbing through the air duct vents in parts of the stadium. Security had to go to great lengths throughout the evening, questioning fans who were already inside to see if they had tickets.

The scene was so destructive that an escalator leading to the Miami Dolphins' "72 Club" was destroyed.

It should be interesting to see how this situation and the cost of damages will be handled by officials of Copa America and Hard Rock Stadium's owner, Stephen Ross.

Over the last decade, at least $400 million in renovations and additions have been made to the stadium and the surrounding area.

The Dolphins and the Miami Hurricanes are scheduled to begin their seasons at Hard Rock Stadium in a matter of weeks. The Hurricanes have their first game at the stadium on Saturday, Sept. 7 against Florida A&M, while the Dolphins will host a preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday, Aug. 9.