Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Soccer rivalry proves golden for area tourism
Exhibition soccer matches are not supposed to be a big deal. They’re meaningless to the league standings and only good for weak bragging rights. But this week’s “El Clasico” is not just any exhibition soccer match.
A preseason version of El Clasico, the rivalry game between Spanish soccer powers Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, will be Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium — the first meeting between the teams on American soil. But Miami will also serve as the backdrop for a blend of sports, entertainment and fanaticism during the week that brings some of music’s best and soccer’s best to the international spectacle.
Saturday’s El Clasico will be the first outside Spain in
35 years. The event’s rarity, combined with the expected star power of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, have made the game a hot ticket, with resales reaching into several thousand dollars.
The game is part of the International Champions Cup, a tournament that will also feature Paris Saint-Germain (France) taking on Juventus (Italy) in Miami Gardens on Wednesday night.
Organizers have packed the preceding week with events, ranging from a fan fest dubbed “Casa Clasico” at Bayfront Park to mixed martial arts fights in Wynwood. Parties in Miami Beach and pop concerts have given El Clasico a vibe that mimics a Super Bowl.
Marc Anthony is performing the halftime show of Saturday’s game, while Prince Royce will sing the national anthem. Flo Rida will perform during halftime of the PSG-Juventus game.
“I would argue that it’s even a little bit different than the Super Bowl because the Super Bowl is in a steady rotation,” said Matt Higgins, a key figure in bringing the event to Miami. “It must be held every year, it must be awarded to some city. Theoretically, we could have gone another 30 years and the Clasico would have never taken place in the United States.”
Along with Dolphins owner Steve Ross, Higgins co-founded both Relevent Sports and RSE Ventures, a sports and entertainment firm that started the ICC in 2013. Last year, the firm undertook a formidable task: re-create one of Europe’s greatest rivalries in America.
Together, the longtime rivals represent a kaleidoscope of soccer royalty, combining for 57 La Liga championships and 17 European Cup wins. They currently employ the past nine winners of the Ballon d’Or, an award given annually to the world’s best soccer player.
Many have tried to lure the clubs across the pond before but were rebuffed. The Spanish giants — ranked by Forbes as two of the top five most valuable franchises in any sport — wanted their game to be celebrated, not trivialized.
Higgins said there had been internal talks for years about this matchup. Preliminary discussions between the sides stalled. But negotiations were always about Miami as the destination, not another city like New York or Los Angeles. (“Miami was the only option. It’s Miami or go home,” Higgins said.)
In December, Ross and Higgins headed a team of executives that flew to Spain to woo both Real Madrid and Barcelona executives. In the morning, they met with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and other club executives. In the afternoon, after a flight to Barcelona, they met with Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his lieutenants.
The vision they promised was more than El Clasico. They pictured “the greatest celebration of European football that’s ever been held on American soil,” Higgins said. Days later, the match was agreed to: a preseason “friendly” in Miami.
“When it comes to Barcelona versus Real Madrid, there’s no such thing as a friendly or an exhibition match,” Higgins said of the rivals.
As part of the celebration, organizers are offering a free fan festival at Bayfront Park on Friday and Saturday that will include concerts, games, giveaways and meet-and-greets. Questlove from The Roots and reggaeton act Alexis y Fido are expected at “Casa Clasico.”
Both Real Madrid and Barcelona are scheduled to make team appearances on Friday at Casa Clasico, Relevent Sports CEO Daniel Sillman said. A youth soccer tournament will take place during the week; legends and celebrities games will then take center stage. Heineken will host a beer garden at the fan fest and have boats on hand to glide from Bayfront to Miami Beach.
“It was important to us to have a fan festival, to have music and all sorts of youth activities and everything that we’re doing to give everyone a chance to participate, no matter what their interests are,” Sillman said.
Other events include Combate Clasico (a 10-bout mixed martial arts card in Wynwood on Thursday), a Thursday VIP party at the Seminole Hard Rock, and a Friday party at STORY nightclub in Miami Beach.
Tickets to the game at the 76,018-seat stadium have been selling fast. On Ticketmaster, the cheapest ticket still available is close to $300. On StubHub, prices range from $190 for a single seat up high to $11,850 for a spot in the club level.
The Fontainebleau has sold out its packages that combine a stay at the hotel with 100-level tickets to El Clasico and transportation to and from the game. PrimeSport, a company that specializes in premium sports and entertainment experiences, partnered with the ICC to offer several different bundles.
One package includes a ticket to the game plus pregame access to a hospitality area that features a Spanish buffet, an open bar and a DJ. It starts at $536 and goes up to $882.50, depending on your seat’s location.
Zack Long, chief marketing officer of PrimeSport, said demand for El Clasico has been high, despite its exhibition status. He did not disclose exact sales numbers.
“We looked at it and we said, ‘Well, what is this?’ ” Long said. “Is this Red SoxYankees playing in a friendly game in London? We just started just trying to look for comps and there are none. That just reflects what this game is and means to the fan base, and what it’s becoming.”
Those unable to secure game tickets can still attend Real Madrid and Barcelona’s practice sessions Friday night. Those tickets cost as little as $20.
The game will draw an extreme presence from ESPN, which will send 25 on-air commentators to Miami to cover El Clasico. The network will broadcast the game on three different networks (ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes) and host SportsCenter live from Miami. Event organizers expect between 400 and 500 media members, including some from as far away as Australia, Ghana, Japan, Italy and Spain.
It’s not just media invading South Florida.
El Clasico has attracted many fans from Europe and South America willing to combine a vacation in Miami with the match. Jose Sotolongo, director of sports tourism for the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, said the event could be a boon for the local economy.
“It’s going to be in the tens of millions of dollars that will be generated through hotel stays and folks coming into town to watch this,” Sotolongo said. “Like I said, the international visitor usually stays longer than the domestic [visitor].”
For comparison, the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl in 2010 generated a direct economic impact of $60.4 million for Miami-Dade, $82 million for Broward and $25.5 million for Palm Beach. Through direct and indirect means, the events combined to contribute $333 million to the tricounty economy.
El Clasico is the second major sports event in Miami this month. Marlins Park was the site of Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby and All-Star Game on July 10 and 11. It was the first time South Florida hosted the event.
But Sotolongo said he expects El Clasico to draw a different crowd than the All-Star Game, which had tickets for the 37,442-seat venue being sold at less than market value as the game neared.
“It’s two totally different animals,” Sotolongo said. “Baseball’s more of a domestic sport. In this case, by domestic, I mean not just the U.S. but the Dominican [Republic], Puerto Rico, those countries that are heavy baseball [countries].
“But with El Clasico, if you’re flying in from Europe, chances are you’re going to be spending not just more time, it’s a different demographic that’s going to come in and watch that as opposed to a domestic person that’s coming in to watch it.”
Miami’s tourism bureau has planned information desks around the event at Miami International Airport, beyond customs in Terminal J and Terminal D, two of the airport’s international gateways. Fort Lauderdale and Broward County should also see a financial bump, especially given Hard Rock Stadium’s location just south of the county line.
“The compression that Miami is going to be getting, it compresses business up our way,” said Carol Hudson, vice president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Sports Business Development office.
Hudson declined to attach an expected monetary increase related to El Clasico, but did note the beneficial timing of both the AllStar Game and El Clasico. June and July are typically the slowest times of the year for tourism in South Florida, but two marquee sporting events could have a significant effect in changing the bottom line.
“I can tell you personally, I have seen the visitor impact a lot heavier this summer,” Hudson said. “I don’t want to just [attribute] them to those two events, but bringing such events drives tourism. That’s one of our No. 1 industries.”
Ross dug into his own pockets to renovate Hard Rock Stadium, in part, to reel in global events such as El Clasico. The stadium was awarded 2020’s Super Bowl and will again host the college football playoff ’s semifinals in the coming years.
The renovations — which included new video boards and a partial roof — cost an estimated $500 million.
“This is exactly the type of event we want to bring to Miami,” Higgins said. “Our venue is definitely developing the reputation around soccer that this is the place you need to be. Miami is a city you want to appear in.”
To Higgins, El Clasico could be a gateway to larger soccer games coming to Miami, including a potential regular-season game in a foreign league, much like the NFL’s annual games in London.
“We have every intention to host some type of regular-season match here,” Higgins said. “I can’t say exactly when, but I believe we will pull that off. No question, that’s on our agenda.”
“When it comes to Barcelona versus Real Madrid, there’s no such thing as a friendly or an exhibition match.” Organizer Matt Higgins