Ticket Debacle At Redskins Park

Just when you thought the ticket travesty out at FedEx Field/Redskins Park couldn't get any worse... it has. So much, in fact, that the Redskins' front office has decided to issue a risk management, I mean damage control, I mean statement.

Here's why.

As you know, the Washington Post's investigative team wrote the following article in this morning's edition alleging, for starters, that the Skins sell tickets to ticket brokers while thousands of fans are placed on waiting lists (often years in advance) to get tickets to Redskins games.

The Post followed up on that article with another story concerning the legal actions the Redskins (Dan Synder) use to collect money from ticket holders who 'default' on season (and multi-year) ticket packages.

Having said that, it begs the question.

How can people default on ticket packages they apparently aren't getting, if the tickets are being sold to brokers (sometimes masqueraded as Steeler fans)?



I'm not sure, but both of these stories were all the rave on DC sport radio shows today, filled with callers and ticket holders giving their own personal accounts and experiences trying to get tickets to games, or return ticket packages.

As such, the Redskins office has issued the following statement and would like you to know:

"In response to media inquiries about the Post’s upcoming story and certain information the Post has provided today on its website, the team provides the following information to provide balance and a more complete picture than the one the Post is attempting to portray.

On average, the team has filed twenty to thirty lawsuits each year since 2005 to try to enforce long-term contracts of corporate suite and club seat holders who defaulted on their obligations. Those lawsuits represent less than ½ of one percent of all the contracts the team has for the more than twenty-five thousand corporate suites and club seats at FedEx Field.

In many instances in which the team has taken legal action, the suite or club seat holder had simply refused to offer anything, or, worse, had used the suite or club seats and then bounced checks or disputed credit card charges, after the Team had provided tickets, parking passes, and other amenities.

Most instances in which the team has taken legal action involve long-term contracts with $40,000 to more than $1 million in outstanding, unpaid obligations. In no instance has the Team ever brought any legal action against its General Admission ticketholders, who comprise nearly 70,000 of the 91,000 ticketholders at FedEx Field.

In every instance in which the team has taken legal action, the team first has gone to great lengths to attempt to negotiate with the suite or club seat holder to determine their financial circumstances and to reach agreement on payment plans or revised terms. For every lawsuit the team has filed, it has worked out payment plans or renegotiated contracts with dozens of other suite and club seat holders.

The Redskins, like other NFL teams and many other businesses (including, presumably, the Washington Post) relies on long-term contracts to plan and run its business. Only a small fraction of a percent of our contracts ever default, out of the many thousands of contracts for the more than 25,000 suite and club seats at our Stadium. The Post’s focus on a tiny minority of suite and club seat holders who have defaulted on their contracts and against whom the Team has been forced to take legal action is unfair to the Redskins and the enormous efforts we make to reach out to and work with fans who find themselves in financial difficulties."

[Photo: WP's John Mcdonnell]
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