nyr7andcounting said:
Yes, the owner should give the suite holders the choice. Take your money back for the 41 Kings game that weren't played and forfeit the 41 replacement events.
Fair enough.
Or even better, out of good faith and thanks that these people pay a ridiculous amount of money for a suite every year, the owner should refund the money for each Kings game when there was not a replacement event at the Staples Center. So let's say that there was 21 cancelled games not replaced by anything, the suite holder should get half of their money back.
Well, the article says 150 events are scheduled and somewhere said they actually anticipated 200 events (but I'm not sure if that's this year or next), but it appears there won't be any missed events (although not necessarily on the same calendar dates). But that's fair enough if it were the case, and I'm sure they would do that (refund money if they didn't meet the specified number of events in the contract). I'm also sure there's language in the contract to protect the suiteholders in that scenario.
I know that legally the suite holders pay for "150" events, but I am sure they are thinking "150 events including Lakers, Clippers and Kings".
No doubt. But I'm sure they're also told up front that "including" doesn't mean "guaranteed." That's the point several folks have been trying to make, that what they're "thinking" isn't what they signed up for, and they should have been aware of that from the get-go.
If I went to MSG and got a suite for 200 events, I would expect half of that to be Rangers and Knicks. If they cancelled the Rangers games and replaced those nights with 20 dog shows and 20 Ashley Simpson concerts, I wouldn't be very happy and all though I legally paid for whatever 200 events MSG decided to host, I would be pretty pissed off that instead of NHL hockey I got some BS. I would think that some sort of a refund would be necessary simply out of good faith.
And someone else might be equally thrilled to have NHL games replaced by concerts and other events. Like many, I highly doubt most suite holders in most arenas are particularly interested in the hockey games. Sadly, attendance and TV ratings in many areas seem to indicate that the suites would be fuller for a poker tournament than they would for a hockey game.
A refund isn't "necessary," of course, but, as I've said all along, it would be good PR. I'd love to know how much revenue you're actually asking the arenas to forfeit, but I'm sure there's no real way to find that out. In an industry that is hurting so badly for revenue, it might be "nice" to give that money back, but probably less than "wise" from a financial standpoint.