Amid layoffs, CSX has $1-million for Super Bowl seats
By Associated Press
Published November 14, 2003
JACKSONVILLE - Railroad company CSX Corp., which announced this week that it will cut as many as 1,000 nonunion employees, recently agreed to buy $1-million worth of 2005 Super Bowl tickets.
The Super Bowl ticket deal would help Jacksonville prepare for its hosting of the event and continue to show the company's stewardship in the community, CSX vice president Adam Hollingsworth said Wednesday.
The tickets were provided by an organization called Jacksonville XXXIX, which is selling corporate ticket packages to raise funds to finance improvements to Alltel Stadium before the championship game.
The company would use the tickets to entertain Fortune 500 clients and to reward employees, Hollingsworth said. He said the company "had some tough choices to make this week."
"I can understand those that might have difficult time reconciling these two different decisions," he said. "However we have to make decisions based on the long-term future of the company and make decisions fairly and thoughtfully."
CSX CEO Michael Ward is on the Super Bowl Host Committee - a separate entity from the stadium improvement organization. He declined to comment. Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver did not return calls.
In the third quarter, CSX reported a loss of $103-million after recording more than $200-million in charges to change the way it estimates injury liabilities and to settle a dispute related to a 1999 sale of international container shipping assets.
The railroad had said the layoffs will cost $60-million to $80-million, which would be recognized over the next two quarters. The company said it expected to realize the savings by the middle of 2004.
CSX has 34,000 employees and its rails cross 23 states.
