Superbowl 45 Seat Fiasco

When you were watching the Superbowl this past Sunday did you perhaps notice a swath of empty seats like the ones in the picture below?

It wouldn't be surprising if you didn't see the empty considering that they were in the "nose-bleed" section. Given the fact that it was the Superbowl you might wonder why those seats were empty you can rest assured that it wasn't because fans did want to sit in them. In fact fans bought tickets to sit in those seats but unfortunately were turned away. The Huffington Post has a article that explains the situation but the short explanation is that there were problems with the instillation of the temporary seats that were unable to be fixed and lead to fans being turned away the day of the game. While about 2000 fans were effected by the issues with the seats only 400 were left completely out in the cold while the other 1,600 were either placed in other seats or stood in the standing room only areas of Cowboy Stadium.

The idea of fans being turned away from the biggest football game of the year when they paid for travel, lodging, and tickets is absolutely incredible. Its also a huge PR nightmare. Understandably fans, both directly affected by the seat fiasco and not, are angry. In fact they are so angry that the affected fans have filed a lawsuit against the NFL. Fans have also taken to Twitter and other social media sites to express their anger.

The NFL has also taken to Twitter to talk fans, especially those effected by the seat issues, and to explain what they have done for those effected. Brian McCarthy is the NFL's PR guy on Twitter. He has been keeping twitter updated on what the NFL is doing for effected fans by posting links to press releases as well as tweeting and direct messaging fans. Overall it seems like the NFL is doing a great job in using Twitter to keep fans informed and prevent what could have been a massive nightmare from blowing up in their face.

-M