A recent article in the Washington Post reveals how some fans who can’t complete their contracts with the Washington Redskins are being sued by the franchise, sometimes for tens of thousands of dollars. The paper interviewed several fans who have been sued by the franchise; the first is 72-year-old grandmother Pat Hill…
Now, Hill says, her beloved Redskins are forcing her into bankruptcy.
Last year, Hill’s real estate sales were hit hard by the housing market crash, and she told the team that she could no longer afford her $5,300-a-year contract for two loge seats behind the end zone. Hill said she asked the Redskins to waive her contract for a year or two.
The sales office declined.
On Oct. 8, the Redskins sued Hill in Prince George’s County Circuit Court for backing out of a 10-year ticket-renewal agreement after the first year. The team sought payment for every season through 2017, plus interest, attorneys’ fees and court costs.
Hill couldn’t afford a lawyer. She did not fight the lawsuit or even respond to it because, she said, she believes that the Bible says that it is morally wrong not to pay your debts. The team won a default judgment of $66,364.
“It really breaks my heart,” Hill said, her voice cracking as the tears well and spill. “I don’t even believe in bankruptcy.
“We are supposed to pay our bills. I ain’t trying to get out of anything.”
Hill is one of 125 season ticket holders who asked to be released from multiyear contracts and were sued by the Redskins in the past five years. The Washington Post interviewed about two dozen of them. Most said that they were victims of the economic downturn, having lost a job or experiencing some other financial hardship.
Redskins General Counsel, David Donovan, is quoted several times throughout the piece:
Donovan said other teams sue their fans. “I don’t know of any pro football team that doesn’t,” he said.
But spokesmen for the following National Football League teams said they do not sue their fans over season ticket contracts: Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants and Jets, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans.
What’s worse, there’s evidence of double-dipping. The Redskins win a judgment against a fan and they turn around and sell those seats to someone else, usually a ticket broker.
Donovan rejected the idea that the Redskins collected twice on the seats, saying that collecting on the judgments has been difficult. “Getting a judgment is not getting paid,” he said.
If they can’t pay the judgment and the team is not going to get any money out of the deal, then why sue in the first place? Obviously, the Redskins have the ability to take the unsold tickets and sell them to someone else. The problem is that they’re probably not going to get the same revenue on an individual basis, which is what makes these long-term seat contracts such a bad deal for most fans.
