About 50,000 seats at Raymond James Stadium have faded from red to pink. Bucs officials want the problem dealt with immediately.
By BILL VARIAN
Published January 1, 2004
[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]
The sun has baked the color out of many of the red seats at Raymond James Stadium. One, on the right, has kept its color.
TAMPA - Raymond James Stadium came with red and pewter seats that matched the Buccaneers team colors when it opened in 1998.
But after six seasons in the Florida sun, the color on the roughly 50,000 red seats has faded, not unlike the team this season. Now it's closer to pink.
What more must Bucs fans endure!
The Bucs are not happy. They say the seats are defective and are demanding that the Tampa Sports Authority, which runs the stadium, do something about it - such as sue the seat manufacturer.
In a letter to the authority, a top Bucs official says the seats need to be repaired or replaced.
"It is our understanding that these are currently under warranty and we are curious as to why you haven't done anything to pursue this matter further," wrote Mike Newquist, the Bucs senior director of business administration, in a Nov. 28 letter. "Besides sending seats up for testing, what has been done to remedy this situation? We believe that you should file suit immediately otherwise this will continue to drag on."
The letter starts with the type of language that would usually signal the Bucs might be about to file a lawsuit against the sports authority.
"This letter shall constitute notice ... of the need for repair and/or replacement of the defective red stadium seats," Newquist wrote.
That's not the team's intent, Bucs spokesman Jeff Kamis said Wednesday. He said the Bucs are just following the protocol used when an issue arises over a business agreement.
"This issue is one we want to work with the TSA on," Kamis said. "We're not trying to blame them.
"The seats are turning pink. We want them to be red."
An agreement between the Bucs and the sports authority specifies that the general seating at Raymond James must be red. As the landlord, the sports authority is responsible for stadium upkeep, with the seats specifically listed.
The seats were made by Hussey Seating Co. of North Berwick, Maine, and have a 10-year warranty. The TSA has sent Hussey samples of the fading plastic seats, and they are undergoing testing to determine whether there is a solution short of replacing them.
In a letter to the TSA, Hussey customer representative Mark Beaulieu said the testing should take 45 days.
TSA executive director Henry Saavedra said Hussey has been responsive on issues in the past, and he wants to give the company an opportunity to address the latest concern.
"I don't particularly see this as going to a lawsuit," Saavedra said. "My first approach is to try to see if we can negotiate a reasonable solution to avoid going to court. That way everybody wins."
He emphasized that the integrity and safety of the seats is not in question. They're solid, he said.
Just the same, they are supposed to be red. And if there's not a way to restore their color, they will be replaced, Saavedra said.
"That's certainly a possibility," he said.
Hussey bills itself as the world leader in "seating solutions" for sports and education. Its seats are found everywhere from baseball's Safeco Field, where the Seattle Mariners play, to the Gillette Center and FedEx Field, where the New England Patriots and Washington Redskins football teams play, respectively.
The pink seats do not seem to be hurting the Bucs at the box office. As of Wednesday, the waiting list for season tickets was at more than 100,000 names.
