Looking for Lessons in the Copa América Football Final Security Breaches
On 14 July at the Copa América football final between rivals Colombia and Argentia, crowds overwhelmed security measures in place at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, causing mayhem and delaying the start of the match by 80 minutes. In addition, authorities arrested President of the Colombian Football Federation Ramón Jesurún and his adult son after an altercation with security after the match, holding the two men overnight.
Thousands of fans massed outside the stadium, many without tickets. In several places, fans pushed past crowd-control gates and climbed the stadium’s security perimeter fencing to gain entrance, while others pushed through entry points.
When security closed entry points, concerns grew that people could be crushed or trampled, so the stadium opened entry points for a time, allowing anyone in, whether or not they had a ticket.
“The gates were then closed once the threat of fans being crushed was alleviated,” a statement from the stadium said. “At that time, the venue was at capacity and gates were not re-opened,” preventing some ticketed customers from getting into the venue.
The statement also said the venue stopped alcohol sales and “instituted a detailed plan and increased security presence to allow for a peaceful egress upon the conclusion of the match.”
— Hard Rock Stadium (@HardRockStadium) July 15, 2024
It is not known if the added security presence contributed to the arrest of Jesurún. Arrest records said Jesurún and his son were heading to the field through a tunnel when they were delayed by security. A scrum ensued, in which the younger Jesurún allegedly grabbed a security guard around the neck and threw two punches.
Overall, event security is evolving rapidly, as a collection of articles from ASIS’s June Security Technology highlights. One trend readily apparent in Miami is that fan behavior appears to be getting worse.
Peter Evans is the CEO of Xtract One Technologies, which provides weapons-detection screening technology to venues and other clients. Evans says once a crowd begins acting with a hive mentality, as the crowd outside of the Hard Rock Stadium did, they become nearly impossible to control.
“It doesn’t matter how much security you have, what technology you have, once a crowd starts acting as one, it’s going to overwhelm your security,” he says.
Evans invokes the quote attributed to former FBI and CIA Director William Webster: “Security is always seen as too much until the day it’s not enough.”
“The challenge that these venues face,” Evans notes, “is they have one group that is focused on the guest experience who have the goal of creating a fun, inviting atmosphere, where entry is as seamless as possible. And you have another group focused on safety and security, and sometimes the goals of these two groups are at odds with each other.”
Fortunately, though dozens were arrested and dozens needed hospitalization, it appears the Copa América incident transpired without fatalities or serious injuries.
An added dimension to the story is that the Miami stadium is one of 16 stadiums in the United States, Canada, and Mexico that will host 2026 World Cup matches. The highest profile matches scheduled to be hosted in Miami are a quarterfinal match and the third-place match.
As with all major sporting events, security planning for the 2026 World Cup is well underway. “The event organizers in Miami will take a look via an after action report on what went wrong, as well as, obviously, some of the things that went right,” says Tulane adjunct professor James DeMeo, who specializes in stadium security and consulting. “But they won’t want to face that kind of scenario again moving forward.”
He says any venue that faces an incident like this will examine it through the lens of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) and concentric circles of layered security, to include looking at where the outer perimeter is and what kind of ingress and egress controls they can put in place.
“Crowd management is something that is on everybody’s mind right now,” he says. “When you see the videos [of the incident in Miami], when you read the personal stories of the patrons that attended, it is concerning. But we do have time. We have to learn our lessons and share best practices moving forward.”
For their part, in their statement Hard Rock Stadium authorities said they would do just that: “We will fully review the processes and protocols in place tonight and work with law enforcement to ensure such an event never happens again.”
Evans said he thinks that the biggest oversight venues make is “not taking full advantage of digital insights that can help you determine how to setup security for each event. …You can’t have a security person at every location with eyes on every part of your venue. You need to have digital technology that enhances the effectiveness of security personnel. A thousand cameras at a stadium attuned to crowd density and activity that alert to hotspots, such as a large group of people massing or people showing signs of agitation. These are the kinds of digital insights that security and event personnel can use to try to keep things under control.”
Every venue will have unique characteristics, including where and how people arrive, how much space there is for crowds outside the venue, and many other factors. He also noted that different events will bring different kinds of crowds, and all of this can be anticipated and planned for.
Noting the Copa América incident, DeMeo says, “When you lose control of an event at the beginning, it’s very hard to play the catch-up game in sports security.” He says those responsible for security at large events can use this incident to re-examine their own safety and security processes. Start with the security risk assessments, continually “identify the threats, gaps, and vulnerabilities you have. What changes do you need to make to your security policies, procedures, and protocols? How can you best integrate security technology into your operation?”
He also emphasizes CPTED plays an important part, noting that some reports he saw said fans in Miami did not know where to go, meaning visible signage may be something they want to re-examine.
“Those types of strategies implemented on the exterior of the venue really contribute a lot to having a robust security posture,” DeMeo says. “Having good lines of ingress and egress, landscaping that can help direct people, lighting where it’s needed and signage—these things are so important. Overall, I think venues have done a good job adopting CPTED strategies, but it’s something that we need to continue to get the message out to venue ownership groups: there’s a lot of intrinsic value to CPTED. You can create both an inviting environment outside a stadium and have it contribute to the safety of your patrons.”
He also says fan education plays a part: ensuring fans know what to expect, what security measures are in place so they can be prepared, the times doors open and where they are, as well as what behavior is expected.
“I always go back to the thought: An educated fan is a safe fan,” he says. “Take the ‘see something, say something’ mantra. If there is something a fan is uncomfortable with in their section, they should know where they can text an alert to, and then event staff can investigate. We have the technologies, but the fans have to do their part as well to help create a safe and enjoyable experience.”
