The "unsuccessful last-minute scramble to avoid a seating fiasco at Super Bowl XLV capped months of instructions and warnings to the Dallas Cowboys by Arlington city officials about permit requirements and flawed plans," according to documents cited by Mosier & Formby of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Arlington officials "started requesting Super Bowl seating plans as early as Sept. 8 but didn't receive a permit application to add the 13,000 seats until early January." Within a day, Arlington officials "had found dozens of problems." Arlington chief building inspector Ed Dryden: "We wanted as much advance notice of what the work encompassed so that we would have time to review, do a thorough review, and respond." Dryden "was told in a September meeting that the Cowboys would be responsible for the planned temporary seats." The installation of temporary seats at Cowboys Stadium "wasn't new but the permitting process was." City officials "prodded Cowboys Stadium general manager Jack Hill for several months about filing a permit for the additional seating." That "finally happened Jan. 5, but a week later, Dryden was informed of several concerns." City officials "continued to worry despite assurances from the Cowboys and Seating Solutions that the work could be completed," and Arlington Deputy City Manager Trey Yelverton said that he "spoke to league officials about this on the Wednesday or Thursday before the game." Dryden "cleared the use of some temporary seats on the east side of the upper concourse on Feb. 4, the Friday before Super Bowl Sunday," and he "approved a section on [the] west side of the concourse with a couple of exceptions." But "weeks of work" to correct the stadium's "shortcomings ultimately failed." Yelverton: "Our team was working with the league and the stadium as long as we could, up until the day of the event. And then at the point where certain things could not be signed off on, that's when we closed off sections of seats." Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said that city officials "worked for years on Super Bowl public safety, including building inspections," and that the city "couldn't have done anything else" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/12).
PERUSING THE E-MAILS: Dryden Friday said that the temporary seats that were unusable during the game "could have been installed properly despite the delay in getting the plans to his office." Dryden: "It isn't a real complex project. There's not a lot of detail involved in the plan review, so it would have been possible." The AP's Dixon & Robbins noted Dryden sent an e-mail at 7:14am CT on game day to Arlington Dir of Building Inspections Jim Parajon "predicting trouble." Dryden in the e-mail wrote, "Looks like we may be here until noon. There's still no absolute finality on the seat count. I think that the Cowboys are not going to correct certain items and assume the risk. This is not a good situation!" (AP, 2/11). In Ft. Worth, Schrock & Ahles noted e-mails indicate that the NFL was being "briefed about the situation by the Cowboys several days before the game," but the league "chose not to inform ticket holders until they had cleared security and their tickets were scanned at the stadium." NFL VP/Communications Brian McCarthy: "We believed that the seats would be completed and certified for use in time. We were wrong" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 2/12).
DOING ENOUGH FOR DISPLACED FANS: In Detroit, Drew Sharp wondered, "How much did those 400 people without seats really suffer?" The NFL "offered those 400 a choice of ticket reimbursement at three times the cost of the ticket plus a ticket to next year's Super Bowl in Indianapolis, or they could get free travel and accommodations to another, perhaps more tropical, Super Bowl venue." That is the "equivalent of an airline bumping you off a flight to Newark, N.J., because there weren't enough seats and, as compensation, awarding you three complimentary first-class tickets to Paris." But Sharp wrote, "Even that's not enough for these people. ... Typical of this country's desire to assign excessive fault, there will be a flurry of class-action lawsuits bent on making the aristocratic NFL and Dallas Cowboys owner/bon vivant Jerry Jones suffer financially far more than they rightfully should" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 2/13).
