Phoenix group upset with location in new stadium
By HOWARD FISCHER
CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES
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Members of a Phoenix law firm said they put up with rotten seats and an often-lousy football team for years in hopes of a payoff when the Arizona Cardinals finally moved into a new facility.
But, instead, the law firm got seats in the University of Phoenix stadium that were inferior to what they had at Sun Devil Stadium, the attorneys said.
The attorneys at Cheifetz Iannitelli Marcolini PC did more than complain. They filed suit demanding unspecified financial reparations from the team.
Cardinals spokesman Mark Dalton acknowledged the seats the firm received were nowhere near as close to the 50-yard line as the ones it had at Sun Devil Stadium. But he said there was good reason for that and that the lawyers were not cheated in any way.
Steven Cheifetz, who filed the lawsuit, doesn’t see it that way.
Cheifetz said his firm began purchasing season tickets in 1993. He said those were the years when even team officials recognized Sun Devil Stadium was beset with problems ranging from extreme heat, seats without backrests and not enough bathrooms or food vendors.
But he said team officials represented that fans who were loyal and continued to buy season tickets would be rewarded with priority seating in the new stadium.
But Cheifetz said he was not offered anything like the seats he had in the 27th row on the 50-yard line at Sun Devil Stadium. The best they could offer, he said, was in the front row of the upper-level section.
Cheifetz said he agreed to that after being shown a “virtual view” on a computer screen.
In reality, he said, the view was obstructed by failingsshrug: railings - I guess) and a stairway.
And Cheifetz said the stadium is designed so that people walk up and down the stairs right in front of the seats.
Cheifetz said this isn’t simply a matter of personal preference.
According to his lawsuit, those seats in Sun Devil Stadium were “a novelty of significant value for any NFL team, even the Arizona Cardinals.” In any case, they were sufficient to impress prospective or current clients.
Now, Cheifetz said, the firm is “subject to ridicule and embarrassment” for getting such poor seats.
“Rather than the tickets being a source of pride and enjoyment, the fact that (the law firm) was treated in this manner after 13 years as a loyal fan suggests to others that (the firm) is unimportant, gullible and easily victimized,” he said.
Dalton said the situation is more complicated than that.
He said the seats in Sun Devil Stadium, while on the 50-yard line, were on the sunny side of the facility.
Dalton said that made them less desirable than those with poorer field position but out of the sun.
As a result, there were season ticket holders with greater seniority than the law firm who got first crack at the prime 50-yard-line season tickets inside the new stadium — a place where, because of the retractable roof, seats in the sun are not an issue.
Dalton said the law firm got the priority it deserved when the new seats were handed out.
He said that, even with the lawsuit, the team will work with the firm to try to resolve the issue and to see if some seats can be found that the firm’s members believe are adequate.
I am curious if anyone else has a seat that is obstucted by "railings and stairways"?
