NFL, Cowboys owner hit with class action suit over Super Bowl tickets

By Martha Deller

mdeller@star-telegram.com

Two men -- one from Tarrant County and one from Pennsylvania -- have filed a federal class action lawsuit seeking more than $5 million for Super Bowl fans who were denied seats or were assigned temporary seating with obstructed views during Sunday's game between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the United States District Court in Dallas, Steve Simms contends that the Dallas Cowboys Football Club, owner Jerry Jones and the National Football League owe him thousands of dollars he spent to travel to Texas from Pennsylvania and the seat he was denied because Arlington fire officials said it was unsafe.

Of 1,250 fans denied seats, 850 ultimately were seated in other areas. But 400 fans, including Simms, had to watch the game on monitors or use standing-room platforms. Simms represents that class of fans, according to the suit.

The other plaintiff, Tarrant County resident Mike Dolabi, a Cowboys season ticket holder, retained his seat in the temporary seating area but said his view of the game was obstructed as were others in his class, the suit says.

Game day deception

Simms and Dolabi allege that the Cowboys, NFL and stadium management breached their contracts with ticketholders by failing to provide promised seats. They say Jones and the Cowboys deceived them by not telling them until game day that their seats were unavailable.

"You don't have to own the Cowboys or run the NFL to know that you cannot lawfully treat people like this," Michael Avenatti, a California attorney representing the plaintiffs, said in a news release.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy declined to comment on the lawsuit. He previously declined to say whether the NFL might take legal action against Seating Solutions for failing to complete the 15,000-seat temporary seating area in a timely manner. The firm walked off the job Sunday.

Better sight lines

Dolabi is among hundreds of season ticket holders known as the "Founders" of Cowboys Stadium who paid at least $100,000 per seat for a personal seat license that collectively raised more than $100 million to help fund the stadium, according to the suit. Those licenses were supposed to provide them the "best sight lines in the stadium" and the right to purchase a Super Bowl ticket at face value, the suit says.

That promise was broken Sunday when "Founders" such as Dolabi were assigned temporary seats where their view of the game and the "video board," touted by Jones as one of the stadium's best features, was obstructed, the suit alleges.

Sims fared even worse, the suit says. As one of the 400 displaced ticket holders, Sims was offered free tickets to next year's Super Bowl and a $2,400 refund -- triple the face value of the tickets, the suit said.

That is not enough to compensate ticket holders who incurred travel expenses and in some cases paid much more than the face value of the tickets, the suit states.

Cowboys spokesman Brett Daniels declined to comment on the suit Wednesday. In an earlier statement, Jones said he regretted that 400 fans were not able to watch the game from the temporary seating installed to accommodate more fans.

"We deeply regret their Super Bowl experience was impacted by this error, and we share that responsibility with the NFL," he said in a prepared statement.

Staff writer Pete Alfano contributed to this report

Martha Deller, 817-390-7857

Looking for comments?