Titans interim President & CEO Steve Underwood yesterday said that the club is "'desperately sorry' for not delivering Metro government its full share of tax revenue from the sale of game tickets and has pledged to fully reimburse the city what it owes within a month," according to Joey Garrison of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. Underwood made that commitment to the Metro Sports Authority "in response to ticket sales and ticket tax irregularities he said the team first detected" during the '14 season and "began reviewing in January." The team "collects a $3 user fee per each ticket sold for events at LP Field." That tax revenue "goes to Metro to cover renovations on the city-owned LP Field." But the Titans "have produced discrepancies in monthly statements to Metro that detail the number of tickets sold." Underwood said that "irregularities resulted from poor actions of multiple Titans ticket office employees who have since been fired." He said, "The idea that we would deliberately withhold and intentionally try to minimize the ticket tax, avoid payment of the ticket tax -- that's repugnant to us." Garrison notes it is "unclear how much the Titans plan to pay Metro until the team finishes its internal audit later this month." The team will "provide a full report at the sports authority's July meeting." Underwood said that discrepancies "may go as far back" as '12. The team's tax revenue shortfall "comes as the Titans have boasted a consecutive sellout streak that dates back to the opening of LP Field" in '99. Underwood: "It happened in our shop. We found it on our own. We reported it on our own. And we're going to correct it on our own" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 6/18).
