Lawsuit filed over SB XLV seat problems

[Jake]

Gee, that didn't take long. Has anyone seen Ubet, lately?

DALLAS (AP) - A lawsuit has been filed accusing the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys and team owner Jerry Jones of deceiving hundreds of fans who bought Super Bowl tickets and had no seats, or who felt the seats were inadequate.

The federal lawsuit, filed in Dallas, alleges breach of contract, fraud and deceptive sales practices.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=txsuperbowlseatproblem

 

[A Pac]

These people should either get tickets to next year's Super Bowl or reimbursed for this year's tickets, airfare and money spent on hotels. Simple as that. Nobody should be turning a profit off of this fiasco. However, I wouldn't be upset to see Jerry Jones pay out a lot of money to these people. Anything that makes him look bad is OK in my book.

 

[Jake]

I wouldn't be upset to see Jerry Jones pay out a lot of money to these people. Anything that makes him look bad is OK in my book.

Oddly, that's how I react every time something embarrassing happens to Notre Dame.

 

[jlb1705]

The NFL already said (quietly, the night of the SB) that at least some folks were going to be reimbursed triple face value for having to watch the game outside on big screens when their ticketed temporary seats didn't materialize.

The thing is, that doesn't nearly cover the expenses many people incurred, which were all predicated on making use of these supposedly valid tickets. Some people flew from the east or west coast, stayed in hotels, etc. only to end up watching the game in a manner similar to which they could have done from home. Also, some of these people bought their tickets at more than triple face value on the secondary market. Those prices are not something the Dallas Cowboys or the NFL can be directly responsible for, but they should be held responsible for not being able to honor a valid ticket regardless of the price paid.

I know this - it should be a long, long time before another Super Bowl is held in Dallas - perhaps not until someone else is in charge there who is more concerned about the game and the fans and less about creating a monument to his own vanity.

 

[Jake]

Jerry Jones is an easy target - and I won't argue the monument to his own vanity - but much of the problems in Dallas were weather related. Even Jerry can't buy off Mother Nature.

The only real issue is this one, and the Super Bowl is produced by the NFL rather than a particular team. They blew it, and they'll pay for it. They can certainly afford it. I am amused, however, by how quickly the [strike]parasites[/strike] lawyers fired off a lawsuit.

 

[jlb1705]

Jerry Jones is an easy target - and I won't argue the monument to his own vanity - but much of the problems in Dallas were weather related. Even Jerry can't buy off Mother Nature.

The only real issue is this one, and the Super Bowl is produced by the NFL rather than a particular team. They blew it, and they'll pay for it. They can certainly afford it. I am amused, however, by how quickly the [strike]parasites[/strike] lawyers fired off a lawsuit.

I agree about the weather. I'm an advocate for cold weather championship sites and think the people who complain about those need to grow a pair.

To me though, the ticket issue is paramount. With that in mind I ask, even though the Super Bowl was an NFL production and not a Dallas Cowboys production, from where did the drive to set an attendance record originate? To me that's the root of the whole problem they had with overticketing/underseating. I suspect that was Jerry's baby, though I'm sure the NFL was all too happy to go along with it.

Don Banks of SI.com speculated on whether the NFL knew about this problem well in advance. Granted, it is speculation, but the narrative he lays out seems plausible to me:

Though I couldn't get anyone to reveal much in the pre-game hours on Sunday, I'd be shocked if the NFL didn't know all about the problem with the seating long before Super Bowl Sunday. It just stands to reason that the Arlington fire marshal didn't make his first trip to the site of Super Bowl XLV on the morning of the game. No way. The fire code access problems that those temporary seats presented wouldn't just materialize on game day. But the NFL did a very good job of keeping the story quiet, choosing, I believe, to take its dose of bad publicity in the hours before the game, knowing the story would be overwhelmed by the game once kickoff rolled around.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/don_banks/02/06/super.snaps/index.html#ixzz1DUFf6ipU
​

And finally, TIME magazine has some stories from displaced fans that don't quite match up with some of the remedies that the NFL publicly stated took place, as well as one account of negligent and potentially dangerous assembly of temporary seating:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/02/09/super-bowl-nfl-seatgate-controversy/

 

[TooTall]

These people should either get tickets to next year's Super Bowl or reimbursed for this year's tickets, airfare and money spent on hotels. Simple as that. Nobody should be turning a profit off of this fiasco. However, I wouldn't be upset to see Jerry Jones pay out a lot of money to these people. Anything that makes him look bad is OK in my book.

They were already offered tickets to next year's Super Bowl, given 3x the value of their tickets (not face value, street value $800-1200), given free drinks and food. I don't know but I feel Goodell's make shift NFL "gift basket" was more than adequate... But understand completely why they decided to sue, it is America afterall.

 

[Tonyank]

Interesting that some call displaced Super Bowl ticket holders greedy for suing the NFL. Cramming a stadium well beyond limits is greedy too - Charles Robinson

 

[jlb1705]

But understand completely why they decided to sue, it is America afterall.

The way people toss that sentiment around you'd think there had never been a legitimate or worthwhile lawsuit.

They were already offered tickets to next year's Super Bowl, given 3x the value of their tickets (not face value, street value $800-1200), given free drinks and food. I don't know but I feel Goodell's make shift NFL "gift basket" was more than adequate...

It seems not everyone was offered that package. According to the TIME story, some people were relocated to other ticketed locations with obstructed views or other locations that were downgrades from where they were ticketed to sit. According to the story, only the folks who were told to watch the game in the bar got any kind of additional compensation, and even then the accounts between fans and NFL PR are conflicting.

Also, part of the point of this kind of action is to prevent the NFL from making it just go away quietly. Sure, everything you just outlined seems like plenty on the surface when applied to each of the aggrieved individuals. On the whole though it's a relative drop in the bucket for an organization like the NFL and represents very little disincentive toward allowing something like this to happen again.

 

[TooTall]

Interesting that some call displaced Super Bowl ticket holders greedy for suing the NFL. Cramming a stadium well beyond limits is greedy too

Of course it is, but if I'm shopping Super Bowl tickets and I see where the location is, and all it says is EXTRA SEATING... What are my odds of having a decent seat?? Especially in Cowboy Stadium given the already HUGE capacity. I'm just saying, the fans had to have known what they were getting themselves into, the fire marshal turning them away was just icing on the cake.

 

[TooTall]

The way people toss that sentiment around you'd think there had never been a legitimate or worthwhile lawsuit.



It seems not everyone was offered that package. According to the TIME story, some people were relocated to other ticketed locations with obstructed views or other locations that were downgrades from where they were ticketed to sit. According to the story, only the folks who were told to watch the game in the bar got any kind of additional compensation, and even then the accounts between fans and NFL PR are conflicting.

Also, part of the point of this kind of action is to prevent the NFL from making it just go away quietly. Sure, everything you just outlined seems like plenty on the surface when applied to each of the aggrieved individuals. On the whole though it's a relative drop in the bucket for an organization like the NFL and represents very little disincentive toward allowing something like this to happen again.

So basically, there is a lot of gray area and what the NFL said was just to try and smooth things over. Makes sense when you break it down.

 

[jlb1705]

Of course it is, but if I'm shopping Super Bowl tickets and I see where the location is, and all it says is EXTRA SEATING... What are my odds of having a decent seat?? Especially in Cowboy Stadium given the already HUGE capacity. I'm just saying, the fans had to have known what they were getting themselves into, the fire marshal turning them away was just icing on the cake.

You should only be able to promise seats to those to which you can guarantee a place to sit.

Hmmm... where have I heard this argument around here before??? :2004:

 

[TooTall]

You should only be able to promise seats to those to which you can guarantee a place to sit.

Hmmm... where have I heard this argument around here before??? :2004:

Doesn't all of this stem from Jerry Jones wanting to shatter the NFL record for capacity in the SB? If so, it's an absolute joke. And if true, the money should come out of Jerry Jones' pocket.

 

[A Pac]

Doesn't all of this stem from Jerry Jones wanting to shatter the NFL record for capacity in the SB?

He failed at that by the way. He missed the record ironically enough by about 400-500 people.

 

[TooTall]

He failed at that by the way. He missed the record ironically enough by about 400-500 people.

Justice is served.