Hockey fans suing over beer fraud

[LadyStanley]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...fter-youtube-reveals-suds-scam-144955699.html

Puck Daddy summarizes the suit some fans have made against ECHL Idaho "Steal-heads" (et al) as the "small" (16oz) cup contains just as much beer as the "large" (20oz) cup, at almost double the price.

Team's response is to change the large cup to 24oz.

(But it's still more "bang for the buck" to get the small size.)


Never cheat a hockey fan, especially regarding their beer.

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[WinterEmpire]

I think this happened with the Seahawks a couple of years ago minus the the lawsuit.

 

[cutchemist42]

When these things happen, do the teams truly know that's what they are doing? I mean, I would think this would have been figured out, which it was.

 

[TheThrill81*]

So their solution is rather than not pay for over-priced beer, they're spending money on legal fees so the next time they can pay for over-priced beer in a bigger cup?

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

I guess you could say the system was Coorupt?

 

[MaskedSonja]

I think what's happening here is a visibility type of thing as well-will be interesting to see if fans around the league start seriously comparing cup sizes and costs. If this is a one off situation, then obviously correction will be made.

If, however, it's discovered that this is actually a common situation around the arenas, it would be interesting what type of action would be taken not just from fans, but from any organizations that deal with this sort of consumer fraud.

 

[PCSPounder]

It's Idaho. I don't expect much more from the "very pro-business environment" there.

I wonder if I could join in the lawsuit. Of course, I think prices were $4.50 and $3.50 back when I was living there. Or was it $5.50 and $4.50? What the heck made them go to $7 / $4 in the first place? That's a weird one, even by their standards.

However, I'm lucky now. Nobody puts premium Oregon beers in a 16 ounce cup; it's all the 20 ounce size (I believe). I may pay $9.00 for my Fort George Vortex IPA, but unless someone out there is getting Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA, I'm getting the best beer. Just saying.

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

What's next? People are going to be measuring Subway subs to make sure they're actually a foot long?

 

[powerstuck]

What is funny in this case is that the team acknowledged there was an error and their statement was : ''We found out the error and it is caused by the fact that our small beer (16 ounces) and our large beer (20 ounces)...there was not a big enough difference, so we are upgrading to 24 ounces cups for large beer and keeping the price same.''

In my world, that's an answer Gary would have served to anyone. I didn't know 16 and 20 ounces were basically the same liquid quantity.

 

[GuelphStormer]

how many oz did the cups actually hold?

 

[LadyStanley]

how many oz did the cups actually hold?

Originally 16 and 20. Changed to 16 and 24.

 

[rafterman]

Actually, for at least one of the main manufacturers of plastic cups, what they label as 16 oz is actually 18 when filled all the way to the top. You completely fill a 16 cup and slightly under fill a 20 and you'll be looking at about the same amount.

 

[GuelphStormer]

Actually, for at least one of the main manufacturers of plastic cups, what they label as 16 oz is actually 18 when filled all the way to the top. You completely fill a 16 cup and slightly under fill a 20 and you'll be looking at about the same amount.

ah ok, this is what I wanted.

so the gap was lessened in two ways. those paying for 16oz were actually getting more (ie., 18oz). and those paying for 20oz were actually getting less (ie., that "same" 18oz).

frankly, i think the judge should just toss the suit given the stupidity of anyone who would originally have paid 75% more ($7/$4=1.75) for only 25% more product (20oz/16oz=1.25). but i guess they thought they needed to buy the big beer because they also had to carry their nachos, pretzels and slice of 'za.

 

[powerstuck]

Anyway, is the suit still planned ? From the fans reaction to the team acknowledging the problem and fixing it by getting a 24oz cup instead of 20 I tough the fan comment was : I'm fine with this, won't go further.

 

[Metroid]

why didn't they just buy the smaller cup that had the same amount of beer for cheaper cost?

 

[IME]

Anyway, is the suit still planned ? From the fans reaction to the team acknowledging the problem and fixing it by getting a 24oz cup instead of 20 I tough the fan comment was : I'm fine with this, won't go further.

You could still sue for the lost money during the time the cups were sold. Make it a class action and donate the proceeds to charity

 

[Steelhead16]

It's Idaho. I don't expect much more from the "very pro-business environment" there.

I wonder if I could join in the lawsuit. Of course, I think prices were $4.50 and $3.50 back when I was living there. Or was it $5.50 and $4.50? What the heck made them go to $7 / $4 in the first place? That's a weird one, even by their standards.

However, I'm lucky now. Nobody puts premium Oregon beers in a 16 ounce cup; it's all the 20 ounce size (I believe). I may pay $9.00 for my Fort George Vortex IPA, but unless someone out there is getting Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA, I'm getting the best beer. Just saying.

Attendance goes down, beer prices go up.

 

[PCSPounder]

Attendance goes down, beer prices go up.

Of course, that begs the next question. Would you say there's been a significant drop per "the eye test"?

When I lived there, I would usually catch midweek games, I know those crowds were a bit soft and overreported. Still, 3 years ago, I took my daughter to a Saturday game, pretty full.

Lack of championships? Pressure from BSU? More accurate counts?

 

[Steelhead16]

Of course, that begs the next question. Would you say there's been a significant drop per "the eye test"?

When I lived there, I would usually catch midweek games, I know those crowds were a bit soft and overreported. Still, 3 years ago, I took my daughter to a Saturday game, pretty full.

Lack of championships? Pressure from BSU? More accurate counts?

From the "eye test" the numbers are down a pretty significant amount. A good weeknight I would guess is between 1800 and 2800. Weekends, between 3500 and 4500. I think they have had 4 official sellouts this year but even those nights there were empty seats. As you know though, there are always empty seats because of all the people just standing around on the mezzanine drinking the whole game.

Main reason is a complete lack of marketing and boredom of the long time fans. The between period "entertainment" has been the same tired 5 things for 18 years. Mighty Mites, Chuck a Puck, T-shirt cannon, little girl figure skater and shoot the puck from the face off dots into the net. They did do musical chairs once this season and had 7 participants and 7 chairs for the first round. So that was fun when everyone sat down. This is also the first year that the home games are televised live (they have always been delayed a day in the past) so there is really no reason to go now. I can skip all the nonsense and watch the game with the sound down and all is well.
A lot of the teams in the ECHL have the problem with lots of player turnover but it seems exceptionally bad here. Texas calls up a lot of guys but there are also 4 or 5 other AHL teams that regularly sign guys from here so people can't get attached to anyone because if you have any talent, you probably won't be here long.
There are enough sports fans in this town, that with a little effort and imagination they could fill the building every night.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Pretty sure here in Elmira this was similar. There was a 16oz and a 20oz. The 16 was like $5 and the 20 was like $7.50 not sure if any of that stuff has changed since Afr though.