Monday, February 14, 2011

WELL… THAT DID IT…




First, a clarification:

In no way am I criticizing the volunteers and those that worked in the restaurants, hotels, security field, and other fields to attempt to make Super Bowl XLV an enjoyable and safe experience for our hosts who came from all over the place. From what I have heard and read is that the Metroplex was an excellent host in terms of hospitality.

What I am criticizing is those in the decision making positions that felt it was necessary to have rolling blackouts during a 103-hour period when temperatures were below freezing; the failure of our state to invest in transportation and waiting past the breaking point to finally do something about it; and finally, league officials who wanted to feed their egos went too far in trying to sell more seats to the game.


Prior to kickoff of Super Bowl XLV, the Arlington Fire Marshall declared that the extra seats constructed inside Cowboys Stadium were deemed not up to Fire Code per the City of Arlington. There are reports that the NFL knew about this problem, but reassured the public that the extra seats would be constructed in time for the game.

On the day of the game, Cowboys Stadium was still constructing seats and railings in those temporary sections. It was all an effort to set the attendance record for a Super Bowl (which came up 766 seats short of the record at Super Bowl XIV in the Rose Bowl back in January 1980)

On the day of the game, Cowboys Stadium was still constructing seats and railings in those temporary sections. It was all an effort to set the attendance record for a Super Bowl (which came up 766 seats short of the record at Super Bowl XIV in the Rose Bowl back in January 1980)


1,250 fans had to be seated somewhere. The league was able to relocate 850 people to seats of equal or greater value of their original seats.

Instead they were given this letter:




They were not happy…


This looked like a scene from the Bastille.

Some of the fans that were not able to be seated and given that letter have decided to enter into a class-action lawsuit against Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys, and the NFL for compensatory damages of over $5 million. Their claim is that there was a breach of contract, fraud, and deceptive sales practices against those that bought tickets to the game.

The Dallas Observer penned this piece about how the Metroplex completely fuster-clucked the Super Bowl.

WFAA’s Dale Hansen, who is not afraid to criticize Owner Jones, offered his opinion about the event:


As pointed out in a previous post, the Metroplex needs to resolve several issues before even considering putting a bid together to host the Super Bowl again.

If a Super Bowl does return to Texas, it will be in Houston. Yes, you read that correctly: Houston. This is coming from someone who has lived in the Metroplex as a child and since August 2008 as an adult is stating that You-stun Houston will outperform the DFW Area.

Again, the North Texas Host Committee proved that they were amateurs when it came to hosting a Super Bowl.

It truly was a once in a lifetime event.

1 comment:

S. Langley-Watts said...

H-town's got it going on, baby! I don't remember the most recent Houston Super Bowl being a cluster-eff at all. Yeah, it sucked having so many people on the MetroRail, but other than that, it seemed alright to me.