Soccer fans stuck between Hard Rock Stadium and a ride home: ‘I'll never go to another game, especially not here'

New York Times

6 hours ago

It was midnight in Miami Gardens, Florida. Traffic was buzzing around Hard Rock Stadium after Lionel Messi and Inter Miami faced Brazilian powerhouse Palmeiras. Over 60,000 people had just attended the Club World Cup match on June 23.
The walk from Hard Rock Stadium's southwest exit to one of the main streets that surround the venue is a short distance. Hundreds of fans, energized by the 2-2 draw between the two sides, discussed the match as they left the stadium's outskirts. They followed signs directing fans to the stadium's rideshare pick up area, designated as Lot 30.
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'Keep going, keep walking,' a stadium security guard repeated on a loop, as fans stared at their phones and asked bewilderedly where Lot 30 could possibly be. After a few more steps, the crowd reached Carl F. Barger Boulevard, a busy street that runs outside the perimeter of the stadium. The confusion was palpable. Perplexed fans wondered out loud if they had chosen the correct stadium exit.
The excitement they had experienced inside Hard Rock Stadium turned to disorientation. Most visitors wouldn't know this but it's prohibited for rideshare drivers or taxis to stop on this stretch of road. The police officers who were directing traffic urged fans to cross the street briskly and to 'keep walking.'
At that point, the confused crowd began to move like an aimless herd along a narrow sidewalk as the stadium's lights faded in the background. Street vendors seeking one last sale hawked water, Gatorade and bootleg Messi No. 10 Miami jerseys. Fans continued to update their rideshare apps hoping for some clarity.
Suddenly, there was an opening towards what appeared to be a dirt-filled parking lot. 'Lot 30?' one of the vendors asked assuredly. 'Keep walking. You got a long way to go,' he said with a laugh. What came next was like a scene out of a zombie apocalypse movie.
Tired fans in Miami and Palmeiras jerseys, with slouched postures, walked in the steamy South Florida heat. There was no sign of Lot 30, just a desolate dirt road with large floodlights and abandoned cars lining its path. They pondered out loud how much longer the walk could be. It can be up to a one-hour walk from the stadium to the rideshare pick up spot. And it's not a lot, but rather, a random drop-off point two miles away.
Struggling to make the walk was Sabine Niehaus, 69. Dressed in a pink Inter Miami Messi shirt and a pink Miami cap, she was visibly perspiring as she labored to push her rolling walker. Every few steps the front wheels of her walker would get stuck in a divot. 'I'll never go to another game, especially not here,' she said.
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Mark Sachnoff, 67, from West Palm Beach, trailed behind her. His Palmeiras shirt was drenched in sweat. Sachnoff frantically approached a nearby police officer who was seated on top of the hood of his squad car. He asked the officer how much longer he had to walk.
'About 20 more minutes,' the officer replied. Sachnoff said that he suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 'You might as well call me an ambulance because I'm not going to make it,' Sachnoff said.
After calming down, but feeling defeated, Sachnoff continued to walk. 'It took us about 30 minutes to walk to the stadium, which is somewhat acceptable,' he said.
'But to make this an hour walk is unacceptable. First they told me there's an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) shuttle that'll take me here. No, there are no ADA shuttles tonight. And the people were telling me, go here, go there, go this way, go that way. Everyone's telling me different directions.'
'They were like, 'Oh, you go right by that building over there and (the rideshare lot) is right there, right across the street,'' he continued. 'And that was a 30-minute walk. Now it's another 30 minutes from where they told me where it was.'
Niehaus went to the match by herself. She drove four hours from Tampa to watch Messi play for the first time. When she arrived at Hard Rock Stadium earlier that evening, her Uber driver was able to drop her off near the ADA gates. Per the Americans with Disabilities Act, stadiums in the U.S. are required to be accessible to people with disabilities and their families.
'Everybody was very nice inside,' Niehaus said. 'Once I got in there, they helped me to the ADA entrance and told me where to go. And I sat in a row all by myself with an elevator lift dropping me down. It had a perfect view on the 50-yard line (the halfway line).'
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Niehaus assumed that her exit would be just as smooth. But when she left the stadium, there was no one there to assist her. Even though her Uber app marked the pick up point on 37th Avenue, there was one Uber driver parked near the ADA exit. That driver, Niehaus said, refused to take her to her hotel in Miramar because it was 30 minutes away.
There were several taxis available near the stadium exit, though. 'I only needed to go about 11 miles away to my hotel,' said Niehaus. 'It was a $150 (£110) minimum for a taxi. What? You're kidding me. It's crazy.'
Prices for UberX, the standard option that the rideshare company provides, rose to $150 after Miami's opening group stage match on June 14. In February after Super Bowl LIV in Miami ended between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Uber prices skyrocketed to $335 according to a report by the Miami Herald.
A similar scenario played out one week prior to the Club World Cup when Colombian pop star Shakira held two concerts at Hard Rock Stadium. A local NBC affiliate described the post-concert exit as 'chaos' after fans had to walk the over-two-mile hike to get a ride home. According to NBC 6 South Florida's report, an Uber spokesperson said that the app had been reconfigured before the concerts to 'reflect the stadium's requests.'
However, neither the company's drivers nor its customers were aware of the change. Some Miami Gardens residents drive large golf carts and charge $30 or more per person to shuttle stranded fans to the stadium and back to the rideshare pick up point. There were several such drivers offering that service before and after the Club World Cup's inaugural match. But on Monday night, they were nowhere to be seen.
Hard Rock Stadium is located in the city of Miami Gardens. Public transportation to the stadium is scant, and the city, notably the area surrounding the stadium, has a reputation for being crime ridden. 'You shouldn't walk around there alone,' a Miami resident told The Athletic. A public records request seeking incident-level crime data within approximately a one-mile radius of Hard Rock Stadium was made by The Athletic, but it was not available before publication.
Despite its shortcomings, Hard Rock Stadium hosts massive events across all sports and entertainment genres. It's one of the premier venues in the U.S.. The stadium has undergone numerous renovations dating back to 2015 and several hundred millions of dollars have been invested to modernize the ground. It's home to the NFL's Miami Dolphins and the University of Miami's college football team.
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Formula One's Miami Grand Prix is held in May on a track that's adjacent to the stadium. The ATP's Miami Open is held each year on campus, as well, with Hard Rock Stadium hosting center court matches. There's also a 5,000-seat grandstand court nearby. It's a congested area, but Hard Rock Stadium is one of FIFA's favorite locations. Eight Club World Cup matches will have been played at Hard Rock this summer, capped by Real Madrid and Juventus' last 16 bout on Tuesday. It'll also host eight matches during the 2026 World Cup.
The ground narrowly escaped tragedy last summer during the Copa América final. The match between Argentina and Colombia was delayed over an hour after thousands of fans tried to force their way through the stadium's gates before kickoff. Fans were trapped against the stadium's gates in 90-plus degree temperatures. There were arrests, and many fans required medical attention. The stadium was not prepared for the final of a major soccer tournament.
That day still looms over Hard Rock Stadium, less than a year away from the World Cup.
It was nearly one in the morning and Niehaus continued to push her walker through the rugged terrain. She stopped several times to rest. No one approached her to offer help. She asked herself with a whisper if she could make it to the pick-up point.
The police officer who spoke to Sachnoff previously was empathetic, but did little else. He shook his head frustratingly and mentioned that local news had reported how chaotic the Shakira concert had been for concertgoers.
Then from a distance a car horn was heard followed by 'Ride! Ride! Ride! Who need a ride!'
A lifelong resident of Miami Gardens named Mike had parked his cart near the dirt road. He's been driving his cart around Hard Rock Stadium during concerts and sporting events for two years. On this night, he had expected to earn more on trips to and from the stadium.
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'Police messed with it tonight, so I made, like, probably like, $500,' he said. 'I know a couple of people who made a grand (tonight) just on the rides (to the stadium). We do F1, all the soccer games, football games, EDC (an electronic music festival in Orlando), that's a big one coming up in November. But we're constantly doing concerts.'
Mike is renting the cart he's driving from someone else, but he's saving his income to purchase his own cart. The cost for a new or used four- or six-person golf cart can reach up to $18,000.
'We have to go to Miami Gardens City Hall so we can be able to ride the golf carts,' he said. 'We want to tell them, 'Hey, if we want to do the games, let us, we should pay y'all per month or like, get a permit or something from y'all'. That way they know this car could come through here. That way the city makes money. We make money. Everybody happy.'
When asked about the money-making potential the 2026 World Cup could provide, Mike smiled and said, 'It's going to be crazy next year.'
When he saw Niehaus he offered to take her to the rideshare drop off point free of charge. 'I ain't trippin',' he said. Sit in the driver's seat, he told her. Confused, Niehaus tried to round the cart to get to the passenger side. 'That's where I sit,' Mike said. 'I had a stroke so I now drive with my left hand. It'll be OK.'
Niehaus' walker was placed in the back of the cart, and Mike was right. He drives with his left hand and does it very well. The ride to Lot 30 was brisk through the surrounding neighborhood, passing the street where Mike lives. When Niehaus arrived at the drop off point she scoffed. 'This is Lot 30?'
There were fans gathered on the corner once again frantically trying to track down their rideshare drivers. People took risks and walked into the busy street to flag down their reserved rides. Niehaus insisted on paying Mike but he refused to indulge. 'Nah, don't worry about it. I have to do something nice for somebody every day,' he said.
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Later via text, Niehaus explained that she was unable to connect to a rideshare driver. Her ordeal appeared to worsen. But a gentleman named Ernesto, an Uber driver who was looking for stranded customers, offered to take her to her hotel.
'Good people are everywhere,' she wrote.
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