How Not To Do Things: Redskins Suing Over 100 Fans
from the that'll-convince-them dept
We've been talking about ways that individuals and organizations can better connect with fans... while also highlighting examples of what not to do, so it should come as little surprise that many of you sent over the news that the Washington Redskins have sued well over 100 season ticket holders, after those fans faced financial hardship and were unable to pay up for new season tickets, despite having signed long-term contracts at some point. The article is long and detailed, and reading through the examples, the Redskins management appears about as heartless as can be. The Redskins chief lawyer tries to come up with excuses on each case, and it just makes the team look petty. Even worse, is that he claims that every team does this, but the Washington Post found most of the teams they contacted do not, and the few that do, only do so in the rarest of circumstances.Meanwhile, the local baseball team, the Nationals, refuses to sue fans, and notes that it's pretty simple to deal with people who fail to live up to their contract: you take away their tickets and resell them. And, just for comparison purposes, we're talking about the Nationals, who are averaging one of the lowest average attendance rates in all of baseball. Compare that to the Redskins, who have a stunning record of selling out every home game since 1968. In other words, if anyone had a reason to go after those not paying, it would be the Nationals. The Redskins can easily resell the tickets.
And... actually, it is reselling those tickets for a nice profit while still collecting huge cash awards from those who couldn't pay -- some of whom are now declaring bankruptcy and blaming the team they used to love. On top of that, there are suggestions in the article that the Redskins used surreptitious (and potentially illegal) tactics to trick some fans into signing long term contracts when they thought they were signing yearly contracts. In at least one case, it appears that the team checked off a box for a fan, committing him to six years. In other cases, the team appears to be totally heartless. For example, the team was informed that a delinquent fan was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic -- and two months later they sued him.
If you want a lesson in how not to treat fans, check out the Redskins.
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Filed Under: fans, lawsuits, redskins, season tickets
Reader Comments
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Also the highest money earning team
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Questions:
2. What kind of economic strategy involves suing those that have fallen upon financial hardships?
and
3. Why can't the LFL (Lingerie Football League) manage to something stupid or infringing so I can have a legitimate reason to check out skimpy-clothed bimbos?
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Plus the stadium sucks
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I agree that the team is likely not collecting on every judgment he obtains. However, once the tickets are resold and the team is made whole, there is no longer any need to go after the judgment. At the very least he should be filing paperwork with the courts reducing the amount of the judgments to reflect the offsets. Which apparently he is not doing.
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Questionable legality
Isn't this illegal? It seems to me that this would be the equivalent of double-letting a property (charging a tenant who broke a lease even after the property has been rented to someone else). The fans are not receiving the tickets, but they are being forced to pay for them, anyway. It seems to me that a counter-suit would be in order. In any case, the Redskins are shooting themselves in the foot. I don't follow sports much, but I do know that I would automatically shun any team that acted this way towards its fans, no matter how big a fan I was to start with.
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It's pretty disgusting, really
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Re:
"And... actually, it is reselling those tickets for a nice profit while still collecting huge cash awards from those who couldn't pay"
Funny thing is that they are reselling the tickets through things like stubhub and fans from other teams are buying the tickets. The steelers redskins game last year was about a 1/3 Steelers fans if not more.
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Re: Questionable legality
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Not so fast
Im not sure if the Nationals send out all 80+ game tickets at once so of course its easy for them just to pull them.
Snyder is greedy, no doubt - but 100 out 25,000+ ticket holders is peanuts and again these folks have everything before the checks bounce.
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Remind me
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Re: Not so fast
The Redskins are burning some serious goodwill. Screw them. There's a reason I don't go to pro sports games any more... there's no respect for the fan. I'm finding more and more people that think the same way I do. Pro sports is just becoming... blah. Nobody cares, it's not "their team" any more.
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Re: Not so fast
"Even worse, is that he claims that every team does this, but the Washington Post found most of the teams they contacted do not, and the few that do, only do so in the rarest of circumstances. "
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Re: Plus the stadium sucks
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Redskins
Just FYI I live in the DC area and have since the Redskins used to win Superbowls on occasion.
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Re: Not so fast
No one denied that. Just like the RIAA has a "right" to sue music fans as well.
Doesn't make it smart. Doesn't make it good for business.
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It really makes no sense to take those people to court for the money in addition to reselling the seats. A smarter move would be to just quitely resell the tickets. That way the ones that fail pay get to remain loyal to the team in some manner like maybe going to individual games when they can, having parties, and of course its safe to say that any of those people that were paying for season tickets were buy Redskin merchandise of some kind. But by doing this they may have triggered the Striesand Effect and now lots of people will see how the Redskins really treat their fans.
Hell if I were in the marketing dept. of one of the other teams I would pitch the idea of a commercial for ticket sales simply saying, "Hey at least we won't sue you if you can't pay for your season tickets."
Oh and if were that guy whose contract was extended without his say so (and I'm pretty sure there is no way to reserve the right to extend a contract without the customer's consent) I'd sue for everything I could, buy three season tickets and go to each and every game with the opposition's colors with a sign saying "These 2 seats are empty because the Redskins hate their fans."
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Unfortunately, it's like they all just decided that they shouldn't go to court over it. I feel bad for them, but if you get defaulted on something that you could've gotten out of, and some did (at least to some degree). Shame on you.
Oh yeah, and the Redskins SUCK!!
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Re: Re: Plus the stadium sucks
What are you? A sports announcer?
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Redskins?
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Re: Not so fast
Not so fast...
Are you saying that the Redskins are selling their season tickets at a price so low that the fans are effectively getting free food & drink? Seems rather unlikely. It seems more likely that the ticket buyers are prepaying for the food & drink, and are footing the bill whether or not they eat it. The franchise is in no way "footing the bill."
Besides, how is that even relevant to the point?
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A little more digging
These club seats don't sell out for every game, but imagine this, instead of suing fans, have them agree to allow the team to offer the seats as promotions. Free upgrades for some folks in the nose bleed section. A few tickets here and there for local high school football MVPs. This blog often talks about infinite goods, and using them to promote, well, club seats for some games go unused, they aren't infinite, but it is still something you have that you aren't selling, so why not get some value out of it? Getting some promotional exposure out of giving away seats that would otherwise remain empty is a lot better than getting nothing in bankruptcy court for the same empty seat.
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I guess copyright law isn't good enough
Seems to me if the people signed a contract committing to multiple years, then they should have the right to sue if someone breaks that contract... Pretty simple in my eyes...
If they could not honor their contracts then they shouldn't have ever signed them.
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Please, enlighten me.
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Re: I guess copyright law isn't good enough
I would be the first to say that even if the club resold the tickets, there would be a cost of sales involved as well as however many games' revenue was lost in the intervening period. But being unconditionally on the hook for 10 seasons worth without any out, is tantamount to extortion.
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Re: I guess copyright law isn't good enough
1. Why do you suddenly sound so similar to Angry Girl all of the sudden, Michial?
2. Get a properly spelled first name, please.
3. Such hyperbole, tut tut. Honestly, Michelle, if you're going to use the same hyperbolic language that pundits and newmen use to whip up emotion and sell commercials, then we're going to accord you the same amount of respect...which is to say none. The very idea that you could go from Mike suggesting that enforcing their contract wasn't the best plan and MIGHT have legal issues if they resold the seats (more on that in a moment) to Mike "wants all contract law thrown out" is so egregious a false progression analysis that I've decided to use all of these spectacularly large words to chastise you. I also insist that you know go back and reread this entire paragraph with the voice of a disapponited Englishmen as its speaking voice. Go on, I'll wait.
"Seems to me if the people signed a contract committing to multiple years..."
Did you miss that part of the story where it wasn't the PEOPLE who signed for multiple years, but rather (at least in one case) Chiefs employees, probably in sales, checking boxes on the contract FOR THEM? If you feel like lightly cutting or whipping yourself in shame, feel free, you deserve it.
"...then they should have the right to sue if someone breaks that contract"
Find me one instance where, so long as they didn't do anything illegal that would preclude such a suit, Mike or anyone else siad that they did NOT have that right. No? Nothing? Sigh, okay, yes I'll wait for some more cutting/whipping, but make it quick (and deep), mmkay?
"Pretty simple in my eyes"
If it makes you feel any better, I can assure you that you are indeed coming off as VERY simple.
"If they could not honor their contracts then they shouldn't have ever signed them"
Repetitive idiocy. In some cases, they didn't sign the contracts.
But for those that did, at what point or to what level is the contract of a sports ticket similar to a lease agreement with a landlord. I mean, they're essentially th same thing: One person owns a building and is renting out a partition of that building in reservation of the leasee for a certain predetermined period of time and scope.
Now, if landlord A evicts leasee B and sues him to recover rent for the broken lease of 6 months, and A then rents the apartment to leasee C, he no longer is legally allowed to recover for rents 4-6. That is typical leasser law.
Now why, Mindy, would that not apply here?
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If the Redskins tried to suppress the coverage of this story as defamatory and their efforts to do so only got it more attention - THAT would be the Streisand effect.
Trying to get more money by hosing fans, and thereby pissing them off, and thereby getting bad press, and thereby seeing a loss in sales. That's just what it is: bad PR.
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It seems the problem is that I assume that this fiasco will actually cost them lost ticket sales.
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Re: Not so fast
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Re: Caveat
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Re: Re: Re: Plus the stadium sucks
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Of course the Redskins are screwing their fans. Why? Because they can. If the deadbeats don't like it, they can FO and there will be 100 people willing to buy their tickets at a higher price.
You think the Yankee fans "respect" the Yankee ownership?
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redskins in snyderville
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