Copa America final adds to long list of major events at Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium

By TIM REYNOLDS The Associated Press

Argentina's Lionel Messi looks on at the end of a Copa America Group A soccer match against Peru in Miami Gardens, Fla., Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Rebecca Blackwell]

This weekend, Lionel Messi will play before a sellout crowd at Hard Rock Stadium. A few months ago, Max Verstappen, Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz competed there. In a few months, Taylor Swift arrives for a series of shows. Say this for the home of the Miami Dolphins: There’s a lot more than football happening there. The Copa America soccer on Sunday final pitting Messi and Argentina against Colombia is just the latest in a long line of major events coming to the home of the Dolphins, which is precisely what stadium and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross envisioned when he began spending more than $1 billion of his personal fortune to remodel the facility and create a global entertainment destination.