The league has extended a variety of offers to fans affected by the Super Bowl seating fiasco earlier this month. On Monday, a federal judge in Dallas ordered the league, the Cowboys, and owner Jerry Jones to provide the fans more time to consider the various options.
Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn required not only more time but also more information, so that the fans can decide whether to accept the settlement offers or to remain in the class action. The league and the Cowboys had opposed the request for more time and information.
“This is a big win for the fans,” lawyer Michael Avenatti said in a statement released by his firm, Eagan Avenatti LLP. “The NFL’s offers do not begin to approach what fans are rightfully entitled to under Texas law. The Court’s Order allows fans the opportunity to receive information and time they deserve in order to learn for themselves that the league is not offering fair compensation under the law. The NFL should not negotiate this hard with the fans — it’s just not right.”
Avenatti filed a class action three days after Super Bowl XLV, during which 400 fans were denied access to the game and hundreds of others were delayed in getting to their seats and/or given allegedly substandard accommodations based on the league’s inability to install temporary seats.