Soccer fans were in an uproar Sunday when live telecasts of the high-profile Argentina-Colombia final game at CONMEBOL Copa América 2024 in Florida were marred by sound and video problems, including the U.S. presentation on Fox Sports.
Audiences who tuned into the final match of the soccer tournament that pits Lionel Messi and Argentina against James Rodríguez and Colombia at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on Sunday, took to X to voice their grievances when it became clear that the audio was seconds ahead of the broadcast.
Sources close to the situation said the problem stemmed from the pool feed video provided by the tournament to all broadcast partners. The tournament’s “World Feed” video went down, forcing Fox Sports and other partners to use a backup feed that required on-the-fly adjustments to the audio in order to sync up with the live video, the source said.
One X user lamented, “Fox sound and video have been out of synch for Copa America Final for at least 5 minutes. Audio leading video by maybe 10 seconds. Not too impressive.” While another complained to Fox Sports and wrote, “Copa America final on @FOXSports @CopaAmerica the sound isn’t synced with the video!! Fix it!!!”
That wasn’t the only issue.
The game’s kickoff was delayed by nearly 90 minutes, to 9:15 p.m ET. Chaos had ensued outside the game’s venue after fans rushed past the venue’s security forces, scaled walls and made their way into the 65,000-seater stadium without tickets.
The Miami-Dade Police Department stated on via social media, “We have had several incidents prior to the gates opening at Hard Rock Stadium for the Copa América final game. These incidents have been a result of the unruly behavior of fans trying to access the stadium. We are asking everyone to be patient, and abide by the rules set by our officers and Hard Rock Stadium personnel.”
One user observed, “So we’ve had video from a blimp, a fight in the stands, whatever happened tonight at the gates and the sound/video not synced for the final. Oh, and the #usmnt out in the group stage. Other than that, awesome tournament.”
The game was 0-0 at the halftime break. The sound sync was fixed by the time singer Shakira took the stage as headliner of the Copa América Halftime Show.
