Notice: Undefined variable: paywall_console_msg in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/includes/single/single_post_meta_query.php on line 71
Notice: Undefined offset: 0 in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/single.php on line 18
Notice: Trying to get property 'cat_ID' of non-object in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/single.php on line 18
Not super: NFL’s ticket policy not fan friendly
Notice: Undefined variable: article_ad_placement3 in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/single.php on line 128
Gov. Tom Wolf waxed whimsical recently, envisioning a Super Bowl at Penn State’s massive Beaver Stadium between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles.
That truly would be something to behold, but it’s not going to happen – and not just because the Steelers did not live up to their end of the fantasy by uncharacteristically failing to make the playoffs.
The bigger problem is that the NFL long ago abandoned any pretense that the Super Bowl has anything to do with the fans.
Wolf isn’t alone in fantasizing. Imagine the New York Giants against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, or the Los Angeles Chargers against the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park.
Part of the problem, of course, is logistics. Super Bowls are awarded to cities years in advance to allow them to prepare.
But the New Jersey Supreme Court illuminated the other big problem last week. It dismissed a suit brought by a state resident who had sued because, when he bought a ticket for the 2014 Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium, he had to pay more than twice the $800 face price on the secondary market because the NFL had released just 1 percent of tickets for purchase by the general public – you know, fans.
Josh Finkelman claimed that the NFL’s policy violated a law, then in effect in New Jersey, that required 95 percent of tickets for major public events to be made available to the public.
The court found, however, that as a private organization the NFL is free to forsake rank-and-file fans and distribute the tickets through team owners, major league sponsors and assorted other fat cats.
So unless you are, say, a Pennsylvania state legislator who gets greased with tickets by the gas industry to see the Steelers or Eagles play in a Super Bowl, you can fugghedabout it.
The ruling applies only to New Jersey but it bodes ill for a federal class-action suit against the policy that Finkelman has pursued.
Even though the NFL’s policy apparently is legal, it’s still lousy, further proof that actual fans are little more than props.