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Court rules NFL ticketing did not violate consumer law

The NFL’s 2014 Super Bowl ticketing policies have been deemed lawful by New Jersey’s Supreme Court after claims that the league violated state consumer fraud laws.

The lawsuit, filed by fan Josh Finkelman, made reference to practices the league allegedly undertook leading up to the 2014 NFL championship game at MetLife Stadium, home to the New York Giants and the New York Jets.

Finkelman claimed in the suit that the NFL’s practice of releasing roughly one per cent of available tickets through a lottery, with the rest going to teams, sponsors and other insiders, was against New Jersey law.

However, the court ruled that the NFL did not violate state consumer fraud laws.

New Jersey law states that “[i]t shall be an unlawful practice for a person, who has access to tickets to an event prior to the tickets’ release for sale to the general public, to withhold those tickets from sale to the general public in an amount exceeding 5% of all available seating for the event.”

In order to violate the law, the New Jersey Court ruled that more than five per cent of the tickets that are designated as for sale to the public need to be restricted. As 99 per cent of the tickets were not intended for the public, their restriction does not violate the law.

“We are pleased by today’s ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court, which unanimously confirmed that the NFL’s distribution of Super Bowl XLVIII tickets was in full compliance with applicable law,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an email, according to The Jamaica Gleaner newspaper.

Image: Anthony Quintano

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