Sources: Commercial concerns, not protests or immigration, caused Argentina-Puerto Rico friendly relocation to Florida
On October 13th, Lionel Messi and La Albiceleste were slated to host a friendly match against Puerto Rico at Soldier Field. On Wednesday, news broke – confirmed by MIR97 Media – that the game is to be relocated to Chase Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, the home venue for Inter Miami.
The Argentine Men’s National Team arrived in Miami two days ago and are playing their first friendly of the window against Venezuela at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on October 10th. That facilitates the change to the smaller venue in South Florida for their second friendly, essentially saving the squad a trip north.
The Associated Press, citing “an Argentine Football Association executive,” reported that the move was “because of the situation in Chicago, where President Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard to quell protests against the immigration crackdown.”
However, multiple sources have described the move as being motivated primarily by commercial concerns to MIR97 Media. Tickets were still on sale early Wednesday afternoon ahead of the official announcement and the overwhelming majority remained unsold.
1 more on this: These seats were available for sale as of 1PM CT today.
Fire had a crowd of 24,653 at the venue on Saturday.
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— Tim Hotze (@thotze.bsky.social) Oct 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
While the Chicago Fire have typically restricted ticket sales to the 100 and 200 levels, opening additional sections for high-profile matches as needed, that wasn’t a realistic option here, with tickets only going on sale September 19th, giving event promoters less than four weeks before the game would have kicked off.
Standard tickets for the game started off at $83.95 for seats in the 300-level corners to $478 for centrally-located seats in the 100-level bowl, but many tickets even in the 300-level neared $150 before taxes.
In the time tickets were on sale, sources have said that scarcely more than 1,000 tickets for the event moved before the friendly was relocated. It is unclear if that total includes the blocks of tickets given to the two football associations and sponsors.
While it is certainly possible that some fans may have backed away from purchasing tickets given concerns around immigration enforcement throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, or due to highly-publicized concerns around protests which have not matched a reality on the ground – particularly in downtown Chicago or near Soldier Field, major events have continued to occur in Chicago uneventfully.
On Wednesday night, the Chicago Cubs hosted a Division Series game at Wrigley Field without issue. Last Saturday, the Chicago Fire closed out their home regular season matches in front of a crowd of 24,653.
A week prior, the Fire hosted their annual Hispanic Heritage Night in front of 22,321 fans, in an event that included an organized tailgate by the Sector Latino supporters group before the match. Major conventions attracting a mixture of domestic and international attendees continue to be held in Chicago without incident.
The Chicago Marathon, scheduled for the day before the friendly was to have taken place, is expected to draw over 50,000 participants and over 1.7 million spectators, with about 40% of the runners traveling from overseas for the event. While there have been concerns from some participants about the possibility of immigration agent activity at the event, the marathon is slated to take place as scheduled.
The Argentinian Football Association may have an additional motive for citing immigration-related protests: Contracts for sporting events often include force majeure clauses that release both parties from the contract if triggered. While each contract is negotiated individually, they commonly include clauses for civil unrest or disturbances. If such a clause were triggered, the association and event organizers would be freed from their obligations in the contract – including contractually-specified payments for the use of Soldier Field.
While courts have typically relied upon a fairly narrow reading of such clauses in court cases, organizers of the friendly could be using the threat of a lawsuit as a negotiating tactic to reduce their outlay on a now-cancelled event at Soldier Field – which could be one reason that despite widespread reporting on the event's move out of Chicago, neither the Argentine Football Association nor the event promotor have announced that the venue or date change on websites or via social media as of Wednesday morning.
