Clippers Reimburse Fans With Tickets

The Clippers have sent $257,098 worth of tickets to fans and said they will send $51,600 in cash to the California Museum of Science and Industry, according to terms of a negotiated settlement with the state, to resolve their parking dispute with the museum from the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.

The dispute began 13 months ago when a state auditor general’s report found that the Clippers had overcharged fans who bought season parking passes for the 1984-85 season by $139,104, violating their lease agreement with the museum.

Another audit last summer, however, revealed that the actual figure was $161,098 for the 1984-85 season.

Fans who bought season parking passes, which cost $200, received $144 worth of tickets for each season they bought the passes. The Clippers mailed out two sets of six tickets, with a face value of $12 apiece, to those fans last Friday.

An audit for the 1985-86 season, completed last month, revealed that the team also owed the museum $51,600 and had overcharged fans who bought parking passes for that season by $147,600.

The museum is to be reimbursed $51,600 in cash, and a museum spokesman said the Clippers have already paid back one-third of that.

The fans who bought parking passes for the 1985-86 season received $96,000 in tickets for the 1985-86 season, each parking pass holder receiving $144 worth of tickets.

Undeliverable, returned or unclaimed ticket refunds will be turned over to the museum.

The tickets were selected from eight Clipper home games--Saturday against Sacramento, March 11 against the Golden State Warriors, March 13 against Seattle, March 17 against Portland, March 22 against San Antonio, March 25 against Utah, April 2 against Sacramento and April 4 against Phoenix.

Not included were the Clippers’ two remaining home games against the Lakers and their game against the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan March 19.

As reported in The Times last March, the Clippers sold preferred parking passes for the last two seasons in Lot 6, directly in front of the Sports Arena, at $200 for 42 games, or $4.76 a game.

In their lease agreement with the museum, which ran the parking lots for the state until last October, the Clippers had agreed to pay the state $2 a space. The contract stated that the Clippers could not make a profit or charge more that the state rate.

All of the 1,200 spaces in the lot were sold out each night, and the state determined that the Clippers had realized $161,098 more than the state allowed.

The Clippers maintained, however, that they had used the extra money for expenses. The agency, however, disagreed on many of the items the team submitted as parking expenses.

The museum had threatened to take legal action against the Clippers unless reimbursement was made last summer.

The team reached a settlement with the museum after an audit of the parking expenses for 1985-86 was completed last December.

“We’re happy it’s behind us,” said Evan Nossoff, public relations director for the museum. “The Clippers can work on basketball, we can work at the museum and the people can park at the museum at below commercial rates.”

Arn Tellem, the team’s general counsel, would not comment.

The Coliseum Commission took over control of the state lots surrounding the Sports Arena and the Coliseum from the museum this season.

This season, the Clippers sold parking passes for $200. They also included $120 worth of extra tickets as part of the package, thereby reducing the value of parking to less than $2 per game.