NPR
49ers Fan Sues NFL for $50 Million Over Seattle Playoff Tickets
by Bill Chappell
April 27, 2014 4:46 PM ET
Saying the Seattle Seahawks kept San Francisco 49ers fans from being able to pull for their team in January's NFC title game, a 49ers fan is suing the NFL, claiming the practice of limiting ticket sales to pro-Seahawks markets amounts to "economic discrimination." He is seeking $50 million in damages.
As hosts of the playoff game, the Seahawks limited credit-card sales of tickets to accounts with billing addresses in a list of nearby states. California wasn't on that list, which included parts of Canada and Hawaii. As a resident of Nevada, John E. Williams III was shut out.
"They're always boasting up there about their 12th player and everything else," Williams recently told the AP. "But by allowing the NFL to decide who can or cannot attend the games, you make it an unfair game. Seattle fixed it."
The Seahawks went on to win the Super Bowl after dispatching their bitter rivals the 49ers in a tense 23-17 contest.
"Tickets should go on sale on a first-come, first-served basis. Not who they want in the crowd," Williams told the Las Vegas Sun this week. His complaint, "calls for the NFL to establish a uniform policy for ticket sales to all of its games," the newspaper says.
Part of the lawsuit's reasoning rests on the idea that the NFL and its teams rely on public subsidies and taxpayer funds.
The lawsuit also notes that 2011 financial data show that "the NFL profited from not paying federal taxes, in the sum of approximately One Billion ($1,000,000,000) annually.
The NFL is protected from taxes by rules that cover groups such as trade associations. That means that, as NPR reported in January, the league "is registered as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization — even with a commissioner who makes nearly $30 million a year."
The lawsuit targets "selective sales" of tickets to events held in publicly funded stadiums such as Seattle's. The lawsuit names the NFL, the Seahawks, the stadium's operators, and Ticketmaster.
"The practice of withholding the sale of tickets from the public at large and allowing only credit card holders limited to certain areas is a violation of the Federal Consumer Fraud Act and/or common law," the lawsuit says.
But as you might expect, the strategy of restricting ticket sales to boost a home-crowd advantage isn't unique to Seattle.
The website My Northwest reports:
"While there was plenty of criticism leveled at the Seahawks for limiting sales, the team is far from alone. The Denver Broncos also limited ticket sales to the AFC Championship Game to Colorado and surrounding states, but did not draw the same outrage. Other teams have limited sales by geography in the past as well."
1. Define: economic discrimination, accounts, dispatching, uniform (adj.), subsidies, not-for-profit, common law
2. How did the Seahawks limit credit-card ticket sales based on region? What might be some reasons for doing this?
3. Should a team have to sell tickets in markets it doesn't want to? Why or why not?
“Part of the lawsuit's reasoning rests on the idea that the NFL and its teams rely on public subsidies and taxpayer funds.”
4. Why might people see this as giving a team less right to make its own decisions?
5. Does the government have more right to restrict your actions if you are receiving money from it? Does this apply to everyone receiving something from the government? Explain.
6. The state of Washington helped pay for the stadium where the Seahawks play, now called CenturyLink field. Does this subsidy mean the team should have less right to exclude Californians from its games? Explain.
7. Should John E. Williams III win his lawsuit? If so, should he be awarded $50 million in damages? Why or why not?
8. What is a trade association? Why are such groups exempt from federal taxes?
9. Why doesn't the NFL itself make a profit? What happens to the money that it makes from TV contracts?
10. Should the NFL itself have to pay taxes in addition to the taxes that its teams pay on their profits? Why or why not?
11. The NFL “is registered as a not-for-profit, tax exempt organization – even with a commissioner who makes nearly $30 million a year.” What is the difference between an organization making a profit and its executive making a high salary?