“Buyer beware” is apparently the message that the Rams would like to send to the rest of the world.
Ronald McAllister was one of thousands of people who had slapped down deposits for Personal Seat Licenses for Rams tickets in St. Louis. It’s only natural that when the team decided to pull up stakes and relocate to Los Angeles, he might get that deposit back. When the team balked, he sued, hoping they would see things his way.
The Rams… didn’t. According to Darren Heitner at forbes.com, the Los Angeles Rams felt no obligation to reimburse McAllister or any other fans for their deposits; in fact, they filed a counterclaim. The Rams organization stated that FANS, the third party entity to whom McAllister had made his deposit, is not an agent of the team, but of the Dome At America’s Center- home to the Rams when they were still a team of St. Louis. Since the team’s relocation to the Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park, any deposits for a PSL at their St. Louis location were deemed not valid, nor would they be refunded.
As stated on forbes.com, “if there is no obligation to return a deposit in the case of a team relocating, then there may be no contractual relief for the PSL holder who believes he has been damaged”.
Essentially, the Rams are playing a bit of 3-card monty with their (presumably former) fans in St. Louis. You may have needed to pay that deposit to get tickets to our game, but that doesn’t mean we’re responsible for paying it back now that we’re leaving town.
Buyer beware when it comes to PSLs. It is an additional cost above and beyond the season ticket purchase itself, and apparently one that is not guaranteed by the NFL franchise if you believe what the Rams state in the organization’s counterclaim and third party complaint.
