PASADENA : Council Accepts $140,000 in Super Bowl Ticket Dispute

The Pasadena City Council voted Tuesday night to accept at least $140,000 from the nonprofit Los Angeles Sports Council to settle its dispute over a revenue shortfall associated with the sale of 700 tickets to Super Bowl XXVII.

The 700 tickets were among 2,500 tickets that were to be sold at premium prices in hospitality packages, generating $1 million for city coffers. City officials planned to use the money to help pay for a new $11.5-million press box they had built at the Rose Bowl to accommodate last year’s game.

But packages containing the 700 tickets remained unsold several days before the game, said officials of the Sports Council, the coordinating group for Super Bowl XXVII. So the tickets were sold at face value, creating a shortfall of about $800,000.

City officials initially demanded that the Sports Council disclose who bought the coveted tickets at face value but dropped the issue Tuesday after receiving assurances that nothing had been remiss in the way the tickets were sold.