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Costs of a redo would be more than $100 million
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League official admits to Saints head coach calls were botched
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More gamblers are betting the Patriots to cover the spread than are betting the OVER/UNDER and Rams spread combined
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The National Football League (NFL) has responded to a legal action, brought on in part by gamblers, requesting a rematch between the Saints and Rams game ahead of Super Bowl 53.
Such a redo would be too costly, the NFL argues.
In a legal filing, NFL Chief Financial Officer Joseph Siclare said replaying even a few minutes of the NFC championship game because of a missed passed interference call would force a delay for an event that demands an investment of “more than $100 million,” the New Orleans Advocate reported.
Siclare’s sworn affidavit was submitted by the NFL to get one of two pending lawsuits over officiating moved from state civil court to New Orleans federal court.
According to Siclare, a demand by the plaintiffs for the league to issue full refunds to 72,475 ticket holders well exceeds that benchmark on its own, as the average ticket price for the game hovered around $230. That adds up to more than $16 million in ticket proceeds.
But the far bigger cost, Siclare suggested, would be if the Feb. 3 Super Bowl is delayed by a court in order to rewind the clock and replay all or a portion of the NFC title game— a result urged by the plaintiffs and much of “Who Dat Nation,” which is also listed as a plaintiff.
“The Super Bowl, the NFL’s premiere event, is a carefully planned and enormously expensive undertaking, with preparations carefully sequenced,” from logistics to producing a “full-blown music concert at halftime,” Siclare wrote.
Saints head coach Sean Payton says that a league official admitted to him that the calls depriving New Orleans from advancing to the Super Bowl had essentially been botched.
It’s no surprise that the NFL would seek to take the case out of the hands of a local New Orleans judge in favor of a federal jurist, said local attorney Glenn McGovern.
“There’s a perception by some people that federal court is fairer than state court,” McGovern said. “All big corporations feel more comfortable in federal court than state court.”
It could be that the betting public is revolting as well. More gamblers are betting the Patriots to cover the spread than are betting the OVER/UNDER and Rams spread combined.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com, and the Associated Press
