Why I am Suing the Cleveland Browns, the NFL and 31 Other NFL Teams
By Ken Lanci:
As a lifelong Browns fan, I wanted to support the team when it returned in 1999 by purchasing season tickets. In order to buy season tickets, I was required to first purchase a Personal Seat License (PSL). I entered into a contract with the Browns to purchase a PSL. The PSL gives me the right to attend Browns home games. But the Browns, in unison with the other 31 NFL teams have recently locked out the players, effectively cancelling the season. By taking this action, the Browns deprived me of the benefit of the PSL contract. It is worth emphasizing that the NFL players did not cause the lockout - the 32 teams of the NFL did. The Browns are not offering to compensate PSL owners for the loss of value of their personal seat licenses. I, along with all other PSL holders across the country are being compelled to pay for something which has no value – a cancelled season. To add insult to injury, the Browns are demanding that tickets be paid for up front to make sure they get their money.
These actions prompted me to file a lawsuit in Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court against the Browns, the NFL and the 31 other NFL teams. I’ve asked the judge to end the lockout and requested compensation for the Browns’ reneging on my contract. The NFL and its teams have forgotten that the only reason they have revenue to fight over in the first place is because loyal fans turn over hard earned dollars to see their teams play. I want this lawsuit to remind the NFL and its teams that their actions affect not only the players, but the fans as well.
What tipped the scale for me is the labor issue between millionaires and billionaires and the fact they can't settle this when the country is in its deepest recession. (90% of working Americans earn an average salary of about $40,000 a year). Since the teams and players can't decide what to do with an extra billion dollars between them, I have the perfect solution. The one billion should go to the all cities that gave them money to build football stadiums which the teams couldn't afford to build. This would give these cities the money they desperately need for infrastructure and economic development. This would create one of the largest stimulus packages in the country, creating thousands of jobs without taxing the hardest working Americans! Fans need these jobs in order to attend games and buy memorabilia. The sacrifice would be made by the billionaires and the fewer than 2000 professional football players doing the right thing. Why in these tough economic times has no one considered giving back to the fans and the cities supporting the NFL and its teams?
The future of the NFL and its teams depends on fans watching them on television which generates huge revenue. The fewer people watching the less money they make. America’s greater assets are its citizens who have more power than the athletes, entertainers, multi-multi millionaires and billionaires. If the athletes don’t want to be reasonable anymore then let’s just turn off our TV’s or watch something else, watch re-runs of old Super Bowls every week. If entertainers don’t want to become reasonable we can just make our popcorn at home and save a bucket of money. We the people have the power. We need to get together and we need to use it “for the greater good of all”. I am hoping and praying the NFL and the players do the right thing “for the greater good of all”.
“The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.” John F. Kennedy