Lawsuits filed over Super Bowl experiences

A couple of ticket-related issues from Super Bowl XLV will be going to the courthouse.

Two ticket holders, Mike Dolabi, who lives in Tarrant County, and Steve Simms, a Pennsylvania resident, filed the lawsuit in federal court late Tuesday night against the Dallas Cowboys , team owner Jerry Jones and the NFL. The plaintiffs are asking for $5 million, which includes separate claims for each.

The first claim is that Cowboys season ticket holders – including Dolabi – with the priciest seats received inadequate tickets for the Super Bowl. According to the filing, “almost all of these seats lacked any reasonable view of the stadium’s prized ‘video board,’ which Defendant Jones and the Cowboys routinely claim is the one of the most unique and best features of Cowboys Stadium.”

Simms was one of the 400 fans whose seats were not completed in time for the game and didn’t have a replacement seat. They were allowed to stay inside the stadium, but in some cases, only saw the game on video monitors. The NFL has offered those fans triple the face value of the tickets and free tickets to next year’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

Via Steph Stradley, here’s a first person account from one of the poor SOBs whose ticket to the game was deemed unusable because the seats weren’t up to code. This is a class action suit, with up to maybe a thousand plaintiffs, so don’t get hung up on the five million dollar figure. Here’s a tidbit to put that in perspective.

Dolabi […] is among a group called “Founders” who paid $100,000 per seat just for the right to buy tickets. Those so-called personal seat licenses resulted in more than $100 million in revenue for Jones, according to the lawsuit.

You’ve heard those complaints recently about how the NFL is losing touch with the non-rich these days? Keep those numbers in mind. Anyway, I believe the NFL and the Cowboys deserve to feel some pain for this debacle. We’ll see how it goes. See here for more.

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