According to the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), they always have a plan B for the Copa America if storms affect the final in Miami. Meanwhile, the Argentina team set a viewership record thanks to the Messi effect.
On July 1, CONMEBOL held a press conference to explain many questions from the public, including whether the grass of the stadiums did not meet the requirements, whether the Copa America final was held in Miami because of the Messi effect or not… The American press is concerned that at this time, storms often occur in Miami, which could affect the matches, especially the final.
According to Frederico Nantes, CONMEBOL’s director of organizing the Copa America 2024: “We always have a plan B in every case, but we hope we won’t use it. Holding the final in Miami (Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens) has nothing to do with the Messi effect or anything else, because we don’t know if Argentina will reach the final or not.
Holding the final in Miami is convenient for fans from South America to fly here, and there is already logistics from the semi-finals taking place on the East Coast of the US. In addition, this is easy for television work because European stations are concentrated there.”
The grass surfaces at the Copa America 2024 have been criticised for being too ugly and unsuitable, as many of the pitches use artificial turf and are only covered with natural grass a few days before the match. CONMEBOL has denied this, saying “it is just a matter of aesthetic perception of some players”.
“In fact, they said the pitches were bad, but no one told us why. The tests showed that the pitches met all competition standards. In addition, the pitches at Copa America 2024 have the same dimensions (100 x 64 meters), smaller than the usual pitches (105 x 68 meters), but still meet all FIFA (International Football Federation) standards,” CONMEBOL said.
The South American football body also said: “The natural grass fields at all competition venues are meticulously cared for. The Hard Rock Stadium, where the final will be held, will be re-grassed about 4 days before the final. This stadium has a very good drainage system, so it will not be affected if there is heavy rain during the final.”
Argentina team sets viewership record
In the 3 group stage matches, the Argentina team achieved a record when a total of 216,642 spectators came to watch the matches. This number of spectators accounted for the majority of the total 960,075 people watching the group stage of Copa America 2024.
“We were surprised by the viewership of this year’s Copa America. Not only the matches with Argentina, but also most of the other group stage matches had a lot of viewers. The current total viewership (not yet finished the group stage), but has surpassed the record for the entire tournament in Brazil in 2019 (867,245 people) or is close to the 1.4 million viewers at the Copa America in 2016.
Ticket prices at this year’s Copa America range from $70 (about VND1.7 million) to $200 (over VND5 million), CONMEBOL emphasized.
Compared to EURO 2024, which is taking place in Germany after the group stage with a total of 36 matches with about 1.8 million viewers, the audience at Copa America has also reached nearly half, while there are still 4 more matches left before the end of the group stage.
