Company defends its work on temporary seats at Super Bowl

The vice president of a company hired to install temporary seating at Cowboys Stadium said Tuesday his crew worked until two hours before kickoff the day of Super Bowl XLV to finish the job, but bad weather ultimately led to the fiasco that left 400 ticket holders without seats.

Scott Suprina of New-York based Seating Solutions told WFAA-TV (Channel 8) that his company lost four days’ worth of access to the stadium because of snow, ice and cold weather. “There were many things that went wrong,” he said. “I accept some responsibility.”

But he said he did not abandon the job well before the Super Bowl began, despite earlier reports from Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck and a company hired to help.

“I’ve worked for 20 years to build my business,” Suprina said, admonishing Cluck to “get your facts straight.”

NFL and Cowboys officials initially asked Manhattan Construction to bring in a crew of 25 workers early Saturday to help Seating Solutions with the installation of handrails in several sections of temporary seating.

John Dixon, Manhattan’s executive vice president, had said that Seating Solutions gave up on the work at midnight before the game. But reached by WFAA-TV on Tuesday, Manhattan said it was mistaken to have said Seating Solutions didn’t work on Sunday. Seating Solutions has not responded to several requests for comment from The Dallas Morning News.

Manhattan, the general contractor for the construction of Cowboys Stadium, continued working on seats until 4 p.m. Sunday, Dixon said. But workers couldn’t quite finish, and with kickoff looming at 5:30 p.m., Arlington fire officials declared six sections of seats unsafe.

“Had there been an emergency and fans tried to access a stairwell that was not completed, someone could have been injured or worse,” Arlington Fire Chief Don Crowson said Monday. “That’s not a condition we will tolerate or allow.”

The decision forced about 1,250 fans to relocate to new seats or watch Sunday’s game on stadium TV monitors. And on the heels of several weather-related setbacks during Super Bowl week, it set off fresh criticism of the NFL, the Cowboys and anyone else involved.

NFL and Cowboys officials have declined to discuss the specific cause of the installation problems.

But the NFL took control of Cowboys Stadium to set up for the Super Bowl on Jan. 8, and league executives said Monday that they knew of the complications by the middle of last week.

WFAA-TV reported that Arlington city records show there may have been concerns with the temporary seating setup as early as three weeks ago.

Those revelations have only further upset fans who were affected.

Even though the NFL is offering a variety of remedies to fans — ranging from refunds to free tickets to next year’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis — some are considering legal action against the NFL and other parties.

At least two law firms have publicly announced they are signing up clients who encountered trouble with Super Bowl XLV tickets.

Los Angeles-based Eagan Avenatti represents some of the 400 fans whose seats were not completed. Lead lawyer Michael Avenatti, who was at Sunday’s game and approached by disgruntled fans there, said his firm is also seeking Dallas Cowboys Founders Club season ticket holders who were placed in temporary seating sections, didn’t have views of the video board and were unaware they wouldn’t have seats “comparable” to where they normally sit.

“They basically put these people in the corner of a parking garage,” Avenatti said, describing the view from those temporary seats.

Another firm, Dallas-based Goldfarb Branham, is representing a pair of Green Bay Packers fans who had tickets for the end zone seats that weren’t completed. Partner Charles Branham III said the NFL’s refund policy might have worked for some local ticket holders but not for out-of-town fans.

“This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that they candidly can’t get back,” Branham said.

A pair of websites unrelated to either of those firms has also been started apparently to collect names of dissatisfied ticket holders.

Fan compensation

About 850 fans in sections 205A, 215A, 230A and 240A were moved to comparable or better seats. They will receive no refund.

Nearly 400 fans in sections 425A and 430A were forced to watch the game on stadium televisions or look for open spots to view the field. The NFL announced Tuesday that those fans will have two options:

One free ticket to next year’s Super Bowl plus a cash payment of $2,400 (three times the face value of the Super Bowl XLV game ticket ). The ticket to next year’s Super Bowl game is transferable.

One free ticket to a future Super Bowl of the fan’s choice, including next year’s, plus round-trip airfare and hotel accommodations provided by the NFL. This offer will be personalized in the ticket holder’s name and is not transferable.

Another 2,000 fans in sections 426A, 427A, 428A, 429A were delayed in getting to their seats because of installation problems. They will receive a refund of the face value of their tickets.

Staff writers Scott Farwell and Jeff Mosier contributed to this report.