Thursday, September 3, 2009

The Redskins Sue Their Own Fans

No wonder the Redskins have had such incredibly bad karma for the past decade and a half: according to Jason Grimaldi in this morning's Post (here), the Skins' front office has taken to suing (!) fans who back out of multi-year season ticket packages.

Grimaldi's story finds the human element in a 72-year old woman named Pat Hill who's had season tickets since the early 1960's. When she told ticket officials last year that she'd be unable to pay for the $5,300 per year tickets, the Redskins sued her and eventually won a default judgment for more than $65,000 -- the judgment included interest, court costs and attorneys' fees!!

The most outrageous part of the story is that the team has even tried to collect against defaulting ticket owners when the tickets have been re-sold to third parties (analogous to a landlord who, after re-letting an apartment, continues to hold the prior tenant accountable for rent).

I knew that Dan Snyder was relentlessly dollar-focused in the way that he's run the team, but this is just ridiculous. If the ticket-holder defaults, cancel the tickets and impose a nominal penalty, then re-sell them to one of the thousands on the waiting list. Absolutely outrageous.