Bucs held back good seats, suit alleges

A lawyer for fans suing the team over seat assignments at RJS contends at least 400 of the best seats were withheld.

By SUE CARLTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 9, 2000

TAMPA -- For those Bucs season-ticket holders who couldn't understand why their seats were pushed down the sidelines when the team moved to Raymond James Stadium, a court filing Thursday offers a possible clue:

At least 400 of the stadium's best seats were never made available to those fans, even though the Bucs promised them priority seating in the team's new digs, a lawyer for the fans contends.

"I'm really disgusted," said Patsy Falcone, a retired police officer and longtime Bucs fan who is suing over his seat assignment in the new stadium.

Falcone, a season-ticket holder since 1985 who sat on the 50-yard line in Houlihan's Stadium, sits near the 10-yard line at Raymond James. "I think the fair thing would be to take care of their fans first."

Officials said Thursday that they tried to accommodate fans when they moved in 1998 to the new stadium, which has about 8,000 fewer seats. Professional football teams are under contract to keep a certain number of prime seats available for TV networks, they said, and teams routinely reserve those kinds of seats for VIPs and families of players and staff.

The Bucs reduced the number of reserved prime seats from those they had in Houlihan's Stadium, according to Reggie Roberts, the team's director of communications. The families of Bucs players, coaches and staff who had a top-notch view in the old stadium now sit near the north end zone.

"They weren't happy at first," said Roberts. He said it's different in other NFL cities. "My buddy who plays for the Bears, his wife sits right down in front."

Four frustrated fans sued the Bucs last year, saying they had been dealt with unfairly in the seat selection process. They want the priority seating they say they were promised.

At issue in Thursday's filing by their lawyer are 4,992 seats in eight sections that border the 50-yard lines on both the east and west sides of the stadium.

After reviewing documents turned over by the Bucs this week, the fans' attorney estimates at least 400 of those prime seats were withheld from fans when seat assignments were made. That meant a percentage of the best seats were not available to some loyal longtime fans.

The problem, according to the fans' lawyer, Jonathan Alpert, is that the Charter Seat Deposit Agreement did not mention that a portion of the good seats would not be available. The agreement did say that current ticket holders were entitled to "priority" based on the number of consecutive years they held tickets, the present location of their seats and their commitment to buy tickets for the 1996 and 1997 seasons in Houlihan's Stadium.

Bucs' attorney Arnold Levine was in Tallahassee on Thursday and had not seen the document, but said he was satisfied that the Bucs had acted appropriately. Levine also questioned whether Alpert deliberately filed the papers Thursday in an attempt to prejudice the public against the Bucs.

"You can rest assured that I intend to look carefully at the ethical obligations and the potential violation in that you're not supposed to directly or indirectly attempt to influence the ultimate tryer of the facts," Levine said.

This was just the latest flare-up in the seat assignment lawsuit, which has included the Bucs filing a defamation suit against the fans who are suing them, and even allegations that one high-powered lawyer threw coffee in the face of another.

Circuit Judge Sam Pendino is scheduled to deal with the alleged coffee-tossing incident at a hearing this morning. Levine has accused Alpert of "ranting and raving" at him during a meeting Saturday and then tossing the contents of his 20-ounce cup of coffee into Levine's face.

Levine filed a civil suit and also a police report accusing Alpert of misdemeanor battery. He is asking the judge to hold Alpert in contempt of court and dismiss the case. Levine is expected to bring to court the green shirt he was wearing, which he says is now stained brown.

For his part, Alpert has said he cannot talk about what happened in the mediation hearing, because such matters are confidential by law.

Times staff writer Ernest Hooper contributed to this report.

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