A U.S. Senate Ethics Committee ruling that values the
price of an MCI Center club level ticket at $48 per game if
it "could be bought individually instead of in a package" is
examined in a front-page report by Ruth Marcus of the
WASHINGTON POST. The ruling "will allow senators and Senate
staff to take free seats from corporations and lobbyists"
since Senate ethic rules allow "any gifts that are valued at
less than $50." The club level actually costs $7,500 for a
season of 82 Wizards and Capitals game -- or $91.46 per
ticket, but "in an unpublicized move this summer," arena
owner Abe Pollin's Washington Sports & Entertainment group
"convinced" the Senate panel "that it shouldn't count what
it estimates is the $43.46 worth of amenities that go along
with the club level ... because the senators and staff
wouldn't have them." Washington Sports VP/Communications
Matt Williams said that the calculation had "nothing to do"
with the Senate ethics rule: "That's what the price of the
seat came down to when we stripped away amenities." But
Williams "acknowledged that the ethics ruling would help in
marketing the 3,000 club seats, which are about 60 percent
sold." Marcus adds that "citing the ethics ruling,"
Washington Sports "has aggressively marketed the club level
as the perfect opportunity 'to enhance existing customer
relationships'" (WASHINGTON POST, 9/24).
