The last couple of years have been ugly for the wallets of New York sports fans. The Mets and Yankees each jacked up ticket prices for their new stadiums, the Giants and Jets are asking for large, upfront payments for the right to keep buying newly jacked up tickets in their new stadium and the the whole thing has played out against the backdrop of an economy in the pits.
Harold Oshinsky isn't taking it lying down anymore. A season ticket holder with both football teams, Oshinsky is leading a class action suit against the two teams, charging that the PSLs violate anti-trust law and the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. According to the Daily News, he contends that the plan is unfair because season ticket holders lose their seats without any compensation if they don't purchase tickets at whatever prices the team decides.
"It makes him very angry, and I think it makes all fans angry," Oshinsky's lawyer, Andrew Friedman, said Thursday. "He's losing his good seats because he can't afford those and he has to go to the worst seats."
PSLs stink. They force loyal customers of an incredibly successful business to subsidize improvements that will only serve to make the business owners even more wealthy. Fans who might be able to afford tickets to the games, plus the preseason "contests" that are forced into the package, might not be able to come up with enough money for the PSL and lose seats that have been used by their family for years.
All of these things are unfair and, quite rightfully, make you angry. But illegal? No more so than rents, the price of a cup of coffee and subway fare going up. The seats weren't yours to begin with, no matter how much it seemed that way, and the owner has the right to fill them on his own terms. No matter how unsavory those terms may be.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
