Copa América Gets Near-Ideal Miami Final After Sometimes Rocky Tournament

Organizers of what has been a somewhat up-and-down Copa América shouldn’t have any complaints about how the conclusion of the tournament has shaped up.

Lionel Messi will lead Argentina against Colombia at Hard Rock Stadium in South Florida on Sunday evening. The combination of two passionate international fan bases and Messi playing in front of his Inter Miami supporters has created ultrahigh demand for the final match, which is completely sold out.

On Ticketmaster, Copa América’s official marketplace, the cheapest seats available via resale cost more than $1,600. That’s for a corner high in the upper deck of the 65,000-seat venue. Tickets in the lower levels are going for as high as $6,000.

Of course, the U.S. not advancing out of the group stage was a disappointment, but Fox Sports has still seen record viewership throughout the tournament. And the Argentina-Colombia final should draw plenty of viewers on TV, too. The semifinals averaged 2.06 million viewers on FS1, making them the most-watched Copa América semifinals in U.S. English-language TV history. 

The final will air on the main Fox channel at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, a few hours after the Euro final between England and Spain concludes on the network.

But the tournament has seen other issues beyond the USMNT’s poor performance.

Things turned ugly after the final whistle of Wednesday’s Colombia-Uruguay semifinal in Charlotte. A brawl among players at midfield led to several Uruguay players entering the stands at Bank of America Stadium to fight fans of the winning side. CONMEBOL has opened an investigation into the incident, with fines and suspensions likely expected.

And while the Charlotte and Miami games were packed, the knockout rounds saw several games played in front of half-empty NFL stadiums. 

Early in the tournament, players and coaches complained about field conditions in several NFL stadiums that had installed temporary grass fields in place of their artificial turf, which wasn’t allowed by Copa América policy.

Hard Rock Stadium is not one of those venues, though. It hosted two Copa América group-stage matches on its permanent natural grass surface without significant complaints. But the stadium removed that field for a concert earlier this month, and it has installed a new one for Sunday’s final.