Super Bowl 400 (Not a NASCAR race)
When I first heard about the seat fiasco that happened at Cowboys Stadium, I laughed and thought that Jerry Jones was dumb and was going to have to make some public apology. As things start coming out more and more, it seems that Jones and the NFL might have a major problem on their hands. The real issue here……..it seems like OTHER people are stepping up to help these 400 fans more than the NFL.
If you were under a rock in the last 24 hours, let me explain what happened. 400 people had tickets to the Super Bowl and when they arrived, they were told that they could not sit in their seats because they were not safe. They were eventually moved down to an underground bar, and then moved again and NEVER SAW THE GAME. The NFL has released statements galore today saying that every person in that 400 will be refunded three times the face value of the ticket, and will also be going to next year’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis.
Today on Sports Talk San Antonio with Mike Taylor, Amanda Saldana (one of the 400 who is from San Antonio) told her story, which can be found here. (It should be known that she was debating on whether or not to go anyway because her grandmother was very sick and her grandmother ended up passing away while Ms. Saldana was in Arlington.) Amanda ran down the events of the evening, but when Mike Taylor asked about the NFL report that they had offered to pay triple the face value of tickets, she said she had a different offer. She said at the game she was handed a paper saying the three time face value comment. She was then given another paper with NFL letterhead on it saying that each person would be fully refunded for the price of the ticket. The same person gave her both papers and said the one with NFL letterhead was correct. Amanda also said that she had NOT been contacted by the NFL as of yet. Why is it that the company that put on this huge event is not contacting people as soon as things go bad? Ms. Saldana also said that they were all told someone from the NFL would talk to them at the game and it never happened.
Well other people have stepped up to the plate today to make things right. During the interview on STSA, Mike Taylor announced the the ClearChannel owned station was going to be giving Amanda (who coincidentally won the Super Bowl tickets on a different show in Ticket760) 2 Spurs tickets to the game on March 11 as well as parking passes for the game. While talking to Ticket760′s TrackSmack Host Dawn Murphy, she informed me that NASCAR has stepped up the to plate as well. The track in Las Vegas put out a press release saying that the 400 people affected are invited for Vegas race weekend in March for the race, free airfare and hotel at Stratosphere. WOW. Hey NFL, how come Bruton Smith, owner of the Vegas track as well as the other Speedway Motorsports Inc. tracks, can pony up the money to make all these people feel better, and you have not CONTACTED people yet? Granted Bruton Smith might be trying to make the NFL look bad anyway, since he is also building a video screen that is supposed to be bigger than Jerry Jones’ in Cowboys Stadium, and oh yeah…the screen is PORTABLE so it can go to different tracks. Take that to the glory hole Jerry.
When it is all said and done, the NFL will probably pony up like they need to, but why the delay? Why not have these people contacted already and taken care of. This is your big cash cow. The Super Bowl is the biggest television event of the year and people who were there did not even get to see it. That is ridiculous. Something needs to be done for these people and other’s should not beat you to the punch. NFL, you need to act and act fast. The storm you will get on this is only going to grow and with a lockout looming, you have enough problems. Time for you to fix this mess, because well,on this one…………… you played yourself!!
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February 8th, 2011 at 8:05 am