Fans left short-changed after Super Bowl seating blunder

THE 400 Super Bowl fans who paid at least $900 (€662) for their tickets only to discover they had no seats for the big game will be invited to next year’s Super Bowl as guests of the NFL, league commissioner Roger Goodell said yesterday.

The fans bought tickets for the game, won by the Green Bay Packers over the Pittsburgh Steelers, in temporary seating but it was not ready when the game kicked off at Dallas Cowboys Stadium on Sunday.

The fans were offered standing-only positions or places in a club area behind the Steelers bench where they could watch the game on television monitors. The NFL also said on Sunday they would pay the fans triple the face value of their tickets before Monday’s additional offer of a spot at next year’s showpiece game in Indianapolis.

Goodell said the league took full responsibility for the foul-up but said “safety is always paramount whether for our players or our fans”. Another 850 fans in the affected area were relocated successfully to other seats, the league said.