Posted in Media
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02/7 2011

NFL Does Smart Job Making Good On Super Bowl Seating Debacle

Posted by Dan Levy.

The last thing the NFL PR and operations people needed last night was angry fans. Certainly with all the weather issues and logistical challenges during the week at Jerry’s World, the league couldn’t have foreseen the disaster of 400 fans without seats. Alas, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t sit here.

How can you sell tickets for seats that don’t exist? How can you sell tickets for seats that aren’s safe enough to sit? You trust Jerry Jones. That’s obviously how.

It’s ridiculous that the 100,000 plus seats weren’t enough for the league that they — and Jones — had to squeeze in extra seating. It’s a disaster and it should always be a footnote in the history of this Super Bowl; the Packers beat the Steelers, it snowed all week in Dallas and a fan seating disaster.

Having said that, the league sure has come through with a make-good for the ousted fans. Per NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy:

So the fans who couldn’t be placed in seats got to stand outside and watch the game on a big screen, but then got to go onto the field after the game, got free Super Bowl merch (which, let’s face it, was probably a few hundred bucks worth of swag they’d otherwise have paid for), food and beverage for the night, $2,400 — or a reported three-times the ticket price — and free tickets to next year’s game.

That’s a pretty sweet deal.

Look, traveling all the way to the Super Bowl to, presumably, see your favorite team play and being told that there isn’t a seat for you has to be devastating. But the NFL has done all it can do, other than giving up Jones’ luxury box to the group or offering to be fed popcorn by Cameron Diaz. Certainly the Steelers or Packers fans in the lot are upset today and clearly there’s no guarantee next year’s Super Bowl will feature their favorite team(s) but it’s still one heckuva gesture by the league to not only make good to their fans, but to make this a one-day story.

And yes, some fans reportedly paid much more than face value for those tickets, but the NFL can’t be expected to give back more than the value on the ticket. Having said that, they did! They did give back more. It’s a PR win after a PR disaster.

As stated earlier, it should always be a footnote on this game, as the need to squeeze in more fans into that stadium proved to be ridiculous. It should also be noted, however, that the NFL really came through for its fans.

A PR nightmare on the biggest night of the year was handled rather well.

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Posted on February 7, 2011 at 1:29PM
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  1. S reddy
    02/7 2011

    What nonsense. Waiting for 2.30 hrs, being treated like some low life with a fake ticket and to be fenced in like cattle and herded around while not being told clearly what is going on – is ok by NFL?

  2. B Jones
    02/7 2011

    Did Jerry Jones or someone from the NFL write this??? The 400 angry, angry people that were shown on the local news who didn’t get the seats they paid for, were not thrilled with the crappy merch, $2400.00 per ticket or the free tickets to SB46…One family shown on the news paid $24,000.00 for their tickets and to travel to Dallas.

    There were 1,200 people, who at game time, had no seat. The NFL found seats for 800 of them, but couldn’t help the other 400.

    The truth is, the contractors hired by the NFL to install the “extra” seats just walked off the job. The seats were not “safe” because most of them had never even been installed. Selling a ticket for a seat that does not exist and that was never installed is fraudulent . I suspect that Jerry Jones, the NFL and the contractors are all going to be sued for this major screw up.