World Cup ‘94: Days and Counting : Ticket Complaints Lead to Class-Action Lawsuit

Disgruntled World Cup ticket-holders in Chicago have filed a class-action lawsuit in an effort to resolve what they say are massive ticket problems. Soccer fans throughout the country have been reporting ticket snafus ranging from getting incorrect seats to being issued seats in the wrong city.

The civil complaint, filed in Cook County Circuit Court on Tuesday, charges consumer fraud, deceptive practices and breach of contract. The named complainant is Anton Naunheimer of Chicago, but his attorney, Stephen Diamond, said the case represents about 5,000 ticket-holders in Chicago.

Diamond said he will amend the complaint today to seek an expedited hearing of the case before circuit judge Lester Foreman.

During a conference call with reporters Wednesday, World Cup ’94 Chairman Alan Rothenberg again downplayed the extent of the ticket problems and gave the number of a World Cup public information hot line. That number is (310) 277-9494. He said he was aware of the lawsuit but had no comment.

Rothenberg also said all first- and second-round tickets were expected to be delivered by Friday--rather than Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, as had been promised earlier.

Diamond said Naunheimer paid for Category I tickets, which the World Cup advertised as being between the end lines. His seats at Soldier Field are behind the goal, Diamond said.

“He’s in the North end zone and he can see the goalie on his side,” Diamond said. “Beyond that, it’s a wish and prayer.”

The suit charges that World Cup organizers reconfigured the seating plan in the stadiums to allow for more high-priced Category I seats. Consequently, the best seats began to curve around the corners of the stadiums and encroach into the end zones. “It’s not a tough case,” Diamond said. “Either they lied to us or they didn’t.”

Despite reports of massive complaints by fans, World Cup officials maintain that the problems concern less than one-half of 1% of the 3 million tickets issued.

Rothenberg said he expected all problems to be resolved before the World Cup opens on June 17. How they would be resolved, he didn’t say. Ticket industry experts say it is standard procedure in a large event to hold back 2% of the available tickets to deal with such unforeseen problems as broken seats and obstructed views. Rothenberg said seats had been withheld at all nine venues, but would not say how many.

In Los Angeles, fans who have problems with tickets to the games at the Rose Bowl are still clogging World Cup office telephones. Paul Levine of Mar Vista said he took out an ad to find other disgruntled soccer fans.

“My reaction (to the class-action suit) is I absolutely want to be involved in it or else I’m planning to take them to small claims court,” he said.

Levine said he requested Category I tickets as part of the “soccer family” sale and received Category II tickets. But even those seats are not where they were promised, but in the end zone with the worst seats, Category III.

“I have a friend flying from Switzerland just for this,” Levine said. “He took off work. His trust in me is going to be really bad from now on. I’m really upset about it. They are making hundreds of thousands of dollars on just tickets.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I’ll never be able to see another World Cup. I grew up with soccer and I can tell you, you can’t see anything from behind the goal, you can’t see the other end of the field.”

* The Times continues the second phase of its informational graphics series designed to increase readers’ knowledge of soccer leading up to the World Cup. The Soccer Expert will appear daily until the Cup starts June 17. C10