Ticket snafu at BCS title game
Mercedes-Benz Superdome is lit before the 2012 Allstate BCS National Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the LSU Tigers. (Jan. 9, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
NEW ORLEANS -- There's another ticket mess at a football championship game.
Dozens of fans arrived at the Superdome for the BCS title game between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama to find their seats were taken for auxiliary press seating last night.
The top two rows of the upper deck were turned into an overflow area for the media, with one of the rows covered by tables. Fans complained that they paid for those seats but wouldn't be allowed to use them.
The mix-up is similar to a situation that occurred at last year's Super Bowl in Arlington, Texas, where some temporary seating had not been inspected and couldn't be used. Some angry fans had to watch the game on televisions in a lounge at Cowboys Stadium.
Incidentally, the Super Bowl will be in the Superdome next season -- and auxiliary media seating will be needed for that game as well.
One of the fans affected by the BCS ticket mix-up was Timothy Rodrigue of Denham Springs, who paid face value for a seat -- $300 -- that was beneath the retrofitted auxiliary press table.
"It's a great exercise in crisis management for the dome at this point," Rodrigue said sarcastically. "At least I feel good that they're getting this out of the way before the Super Bowl happens next year, but it's certainly an inconvenience for all these people. People are freaking out."
