Alexi Lalas blasted for commentary on fan crush

The most serious issues surrounding Sunday’s Copa América final in Miami were handling fans outside the stadium, including those without tickets. That led to many problems, including heat and crush incidents in the crowd, security opening the gates without checking tickets (then later turning away those who had bought tickets), and a delay of almost 90 minutes for the kickoff.

And that was covered in particularly problematic fashion by commentator Alexi Lalas on U.S. English-language broadcaster Fox.

Here’s how veteran Canadian soccer broadcaster John Molinaro discussed Lalas’ comments:

Molinaro was far from the only one upset there. Here are a few other takes on those remarks from Lalas:

And Jeff Rueter of The Athletic had particularly scathing criticisms Monday for how Fox (particularly Lalas, an always – controversial pundit ) approached the pre-kickoff fan situation (which even impacted Fox match analyst Stu Holden’s family). Here’s more from his piece , titled “Fox’s Copa America final coverage showed network is incapable of covering off-field turmoil”:

There are countless ways that a match broadcaster could assess the dangerous scenes outside of Hard Rock Stadium ahead of the Copa America final.

A pundit could question the lack of foresight by organizers CONMEBOL (the South American Football Confederation) and stadium security to adequately prepare for such predictable congestion at the gates. A reporter on the ground could empathize with the fans who were caught up in turmoil as they were gauged for $5 per cup of water as they looked to hydrate. Or, as Fox soccer pundit Alexi Lalas chose to approach it, call it a great sign for the sport of soccer in America.

Wait, what?

“It’s not a good look,” Lalas said as the pre-game show had already extended roughly 50 minutes beyond its expected conclusion, given the repeated delays to the slated 8pm local kick-off time. “I understand this is not a good look for CONMEBOL. This is also because it is happening on our watch, in our country, not a good look for our country less than two years out of the World Cup. I have no doubt that FIFA and the United States — and Canada and Mexico — will sort this out and make sure that this doesn’t happen going forward.

“But I think it also shows,” Lalas continued with a sharp crescendo to warn of a hard pivot in focus, “don’t let anybody tell you that America is not a soccer nation. Don’t let anybody tell you that the United States does not have an incredible history and doesn’t have fans out there… I think this shows that there are many home teams when it comes to the U.S., but there is a fervor and there is a passion for this game and for these tournaments that is going to be on display for the next two years and is going to culminate in what I think is going to be the most important and biggest summer of soccer when it comes to the summer of 2026.”

The Fox issues weren’t just about Lalas’ hot takes.

They also offered extremely limited on-air coverage of what was going on at the stadium gates, with reporter Jenny Taft mostly relaying occasional updates from police and match organizers from the pitch itself and host Rob Stone only addressing the gate incidents in basic fashion at halftime. And yes, it can be extremely difficult for any on-site broadcast focused on a game to pivot to circumstances surrounding the game, and there are often many restrictions and challenges that are not obvious or apparent to the public viewing.

But the minimization of what was going on off the pitch fits into a larger pattern for Fox.

Following Fox’s win of FIFA World Cup U.S. broadcast rights from ESPN ahead of the 2018 tournament, there have been many discussions about Fox’s approach to disregarding off-field issues. That was prominent in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where its coverage included largely ignoring political repression of LGBTQ+ people and other minorities but praising “formidable figure” Josef Stalin by airing a tour of his house led by a NatGeo figure who also worked for Russian state TV.

This was also seen in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where Fox emphasized how they weren’t going to cover off-pitch controversies such as the “modern-day slavery” conditions of the migrant workers forced to build stadiums or the repression of the LGBT community there. Instead, they left that to HBO’s Real Sports and ESPN . And they instead did a segment featuring Lalas and Holden dressed in full traditional thawb garb and interviewing influencer “Mr. Q”:

Even after key Fox FIFA coverage architect David Neal stepped down after last summer’s Women’s World Cup , his approach to focusing on the field and/or positive off-field cultural stories has endured. And that’s perhaps left Fox with less than optimal preparations for covering off-field stories. But while there can be an argument for not focusing on host government issues outside soccer, off-field stories literally around a match are different. And even Neal drew that distinction in an interview with Jonathan Tannenwald of The Philadelphia Inquirer ahead of the Qatar World Cup:

“Our approach is clear, and it’s identical to what it was four years ago in Russia,” executive producer David Neal told The Inquirer. “We believe that viewers come to Fox Sports during the World Cup to see the greatest sports event in the world. They don’t come to us expecting us to be [HBO’s] Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, or [ESPN’s] E: 60. That’s not who we pretend to be, and I don’t think that’s what the viewer expectation is.”

“If a story affects the field of play, if it affects the competition in the tournament, we will cover it fully,” Neal said. “If it doesn’t, if it’s ancillary to the tournament, if it has to do with the construction of the venues or what have you, we’re going to leave that to other entities to cover. Our focus is entirely on the 64-game tournament.”

On Sunday, though, this was an event literally affecting the field of play. The fan crush and the security reactions meant kickoff was delayed by almost 90 minutes. And many players had families impacted by it (to say nothing of Fox match commentator Holden ). So, it absolutely deserved significant coverage.

And yes, Fox did some coverage there, and perhaps particular logistical challenges prevented them from doing more. But their coverage of the fan disaster paled compared to that of many other media outlets. And Lalas’ commentary, in particular, was rough for not recognizing the severity of the situation and instead praising the supposed “passion” of the fans.

[John Molinaro on X/Twitter, The Athletic ]

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