From 2004 but I'll post the article anyways:
Pass interference
The Patriots' prohibition on the transfer of season tickets has some fans crying foul as they lose access to seats
By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff | October 3, 2004
Like thousands of other hopeful New England football fans, John T. Maguire bought a pair of Patriots season tickets in 1994, the same year Robert Kraft bought the team.
The tickets weren't the best, way up in the upper level on a goal line. But Maguire didn't mind. The tickets were a gift to his family. He sent his sons and sons-in-law to the games while he watched on television from his home.
When Maguire passed away two years ago, the family tradition continued. The tickets were paid for by Maguire's sons and delivered to his Peabody home, which was occupied by one of his sons. But when that son was diagnosed with cancer last year and had to move, he asked the Patriots about having the tickets transferred to him at a new address.
The news that the ticket owner of record had died triggered a relatively new club policy prohibiting season ticket transfers. Despite several emotional appeals from the family, including one directly to Kraft, the Patriots revoked John Maguire's season tickets prior to the opening game against the Indianapolis Colts.
''It felt like a slap in the face," said Tom Maguire, the 33-year-old son who is now undergoing chemotherapy and feels the Patriots policy unfairly penalizes season ticket holders who suffer untimely tragedies.
The Patriots no-transfer policy hasn't received as much attention as other team decisions to revoke the season tickets of fans who act up in the stands or sell their tickets on
eBay. But the policy is clearly on the minds of many in Patriots Nation, and it is likely to generate more and more controversy as season ticket holders get older and pass away.
For many fans, Sundays in Foxborough are far more than just sporting events. Steve Ebeling of Framingham, for example, used to go to Patriots games with his father, who bought season tickets in 1961. When his dad died, the Patriots didn't have a no-transfer policy, so Ebeling was able to take over his father's season ticket account. He then started sharing the tickets with his girlfriend, who became his wife. Now he takes his 14-year-old son to games.
''It's come full circle, and it's a great way to spend a Sunday together, especially nowadays when it's hard to find time otherwise," Ebeling said. ''I would hate to think my son won't be able to pass these great seats to his kids, if he wishes."
Ticket transfer policies vary from club to club. Here in Boston, for example, the struggling Bruins and Celtics allow their season-ticket holders to transfer their tickets to others, while the Red Sox, who have fans begging for tickets, do not.
But fan popularity isn't always the deciding factor. Many National Football League teams with long waiting lists for season tickets allow transfers.
The New York Giants, the Washington Redskins, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers allow transfers to immediate family members, while the New York Jets and the Green Bay Packers allow transfers to anyone.
The Patriots started prohibiting season ticket transfers when they moved into Gillette Stadium in 2002. The motivation was partly financial and partly ethical.
Patriots officials say allowing ticket transfers would be unfair to the thousands of fans currently waiting for tickets. With two Super Bowl victories in three years and 17 wins in a row going into today's game against the Buffalo Bills, ticket turnover for Patriots games is minuscule, and would be even less if existing season-ticket holders were allowed to transfer their tickets to others.
A team spokesman wouldn't say how many people are on the Patriots waiting list, but he said those fans are waiting for more than 50,000 tickets. Fans on the waiting list pay a one-time refundable fee of $75 per ticket.
Richard A. Karelitz, the Patriots general counsel, focused on the fairness issue in a letter to Tom Maguire explaining why Maguire could not acquire his father's season tickets. ''If we were to make exceptions, no matter how sympathetic we might be, as in cases such as yours, we would be unfair to others," Karelitz wrote.
Wayne Thomas of Jamaica Plain, who has been on the Patriots waiting list for several years, said the team's no-transfer policy makes sense. ''If a season ticket holder wants to give their child season tickets, put her or him on the waiting list at birth," Thomas said.
The financial motivation behind the no-transfer policy arises from the way the Patriots financed the construction of Gillette Stadium. The team borrowed the money instead of raising it by selling permanent seat licenses, as 13 other NFL teams have done.
Seat licenses, which typically cost a one-time fee of several hundred to several thousands of dollars, entitle the owner to buy a specific set of season tickets each year. The licenses are an asset that can be sold or transferred to anyone.
Since the Patriots didn't go the seat license route (the up-front fee was considered too steep for many fans), team officials say they won't allow season-ticket transfers because that would be like giving away a seat license for free.
Asked if the team might some day sell its season-ticket holders a transfer right, Patriots spokesman Stacey James said: ''In a customer service industry you learn never to say never, but we don't have any plans at this time."
Despite the team's official no-transfer policy, club officials just recently tried to soften the blow for the Maguire family. The Patriots offered Tom Maguire the chance to purchase his dad's old seats for the remainder of this season, but only for this season. Maguire, who says he's now finding it hard to root for the team, said late last week he was wrestling with the offer.
Many teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cleveland Browns, the St. Louis Rams, and the Chicago Bears, offer their fans a choice on ticket transfers. The Bears, for example, moved into a renovated Soldier Field last year and gave fans the choice of purchasing a regular season ticket with no transfer rights or a season ticket linked to a seat license that could be transferred. The seat license fees ranged from $765 to $8,500.
Teams that allow their regular season ticket holders to transfer their tickets say it would be difficult to police a no-transfer policy. The teams also say their transfer policies haven't been unfair to people on their waiting lists.
The Jets, for example, allow their season-ticket holders to transfer their tickets to anyone they want. Yet Ron Colangelo, a team spokesman, said people on the waiting list are still getting tickets. He said 550 people off of the club's 10,000-person waiting list were able to buy season tickets this year
. The Jets play at the Meadowlands, which seats 78,000 people.
Fans say the Patriots should allow transfers among relatives because it's one of the few activities that brings families together and fosters a family-friendly atmosphere the Patriots management supports. Carl Moore, 72, of Wrentham, who bought six Patriots season tickets 15 years ago as a Christmas present for himself and his children, said: ''If something happens to me, their present disappears. That's doesn't seem fair."
Drew McGrady of North Attleborough, who has also been a season ticket holder for the last 15 years, said the Patriots should be more concerned about being fair to longtime season-ticket holders than newcomers on the waiting list.
''We dumped thousands of dollars into this team when they were nothing," he said. ''All the bandwagon-hoppers can take a number."
Bruce Mohl can be reached at
[email protected].
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
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