By Marina Lopes
NEW YORK, Jan 7 (Reuters) – A New Jersey businessman has
filed a lawsuit against the National Football League, claiming
that it is withholding Super Bowl tickets from the public and
allowing resale prices to soar out of the reach of many fans.
Josh Finkelman, who said he spent $4,000 on two tickets to
the Feb 2. championship game, sued in federal court, accusing
the NFL of violating the state Consumer Fraud Act, which the
lawsuit says prohibits companies issuing tickets to withhold
more than 5 percent of available seating to the public.
According to the lawsuit, filed on Monday, the NFL allocates
only 1 percent of tens of thousands of Super Bowl tickets to the
general public through a lottery system.
The rest of the fans who want to attend the game are left to
the mercy of secondary sales, in which ticket prices might be
inflated many times their face value, especially if they are
part of a package that includes parties, luxury hotels or
limousine rides to the MetLife stadium in Rutherford, New
Jersey, the complaint said.
The NFL did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“It’s unfair the fans can’t get tickets like everyone else
for the game,” said Finkelman, a 28-year-old warehouse
distributor from New Brunswick, New Jersey.
The NFL is violating state law, said Finkelman’s attorney
Bruce Nagel.
“We have a statute in New Jersey that prevents the NFL from
doing what they are doing,” Nagel said. “When the NFL has the
Super Bowl in New Jersey, they have to open their eyes to New
Jersey law.”
The class-action lawsuit seeks unspecified compensation.
The MetLife stadium can seat more than 82,000 people.
(Reporting by Marina Lopes; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and
Gunna Dickson)
