Super Bowl Missing Seat ‘Victims’ Need To Stop Whining

Added on Feb 08, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

By now everyone has heard about the temporary seating snafu at Super Bowl XLV. Roughly 1,250 people were without a seat after temporary seating was either not completed in time and/or declared unsafe for human occupation several hours before the game. 850 of these folks were moved to alternate–in most cases better–seats before gametime but 400 were left without seats for the big game. And despite the fact that they were very well taken care of for their ‘inconvenience’ they’ve been whining ever since like they suffered some sort of Nelson Mandela level injustice.

My guess is these saps are planning to ‘lawyer up’ and file some sort of legal action against the NFL, the Cowboys and anyone else they can hang some blame on. From the sound of it, you’d think they were dragged kicking and screaming out of Cowboys Stadium by thugs in the employ of Jerry Jones. Here’s one crybaby’s comment about the situation:

“We spent $3,000 on tickets. After parking and $10 beers, it’s $3,000. I just want to sit.”

The NFL released a typically cryptic statement on the matter:

“Incomplete installation of temporary seats in a limited number of sections made the seats unusable. The safety of fans attending the Super Bowl was paramount in making the decision and the NFL, Dallas Cowboys and City of Arlington officials are in agreement with the resolution. We regret the situation and inconvenience that it may have caused. We will conduct a full review of this matter.”

What no one is mentioning is that these ‘poor souls’ made out like bandits. First of all, they were not only refunded the $800 face value of their tickets but to make it nice and fair they were refunded 3 times that amount–$2400. They also got to watch the game from a posh club level suite–where they received free food, drink and swag–though some chose the standing room end zone seats instead. And were that not enough, they’re getting comp tickets to the next Super Bowl which they can either use or sell to make even more money.

There were other logistical problems, which generated even more whining. There were long lines to get into the due to the closing of several entrances over concerns about falling ice from the roof of the domed stadium. Falling ice had injured six people earlier in the week, and management wasn’t going to take any chances. The tight security for the game resulted in lines, though Dallas resident Brian Shake said it wasn’t clear where fans were supposed to go:

“It was just so long. Problem was, you didn’t know if you were in the right line or not. Everywhere you looked, there were just fences and screens and you couldn’t get in anywhere.”

Packers’ fan Paul Bryant criticized law enforcement for not having enough manpower at the stadium:

“Nobody knew where to go. … They had 14 detectives, and there’s got to be 20,000 people going through here. If you do the math, that isn’t enough.”

Wow….when did football fans become such thin skinned douchebags? There may be a legit gripe with the security checkpoints, though since Americans keep electing politicians who perpetuate the ‘terrorist under every rock’ fearmongering that’s basically what you get. The ‘missing seats’ was unfortunate, but the bottom line is that these people got to watch the Super Bowl, got tickets for next year, got three times the cost of their ticket back and free food and drinks. Quit your whining, already…