Settlement Offer To NFL Over Hall Of Fame Game Expires, Meaning Everyone Wins But The Fans
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Attorney Michael Avenatti's settlement offer to the National Football League over the case of the canceled Hall of Fame Game expired at 12:01 p.m. Friday, meaning that his team will now pursue the case as originally intended. Avenatti seeks about $700 in damages per fan that attended the canceled game - an estimated 22,000 total fans and over $15 million in damages.
The problem is, from here on out the only damage being done will be to the fans themselves.
Avenatti's settlement offer to the league was a noble gesture, a valiant showing of compassion to the fans that were pilfered out of hundreds of dollars and hours, even days, in time, for a game that never happened. It served as an attempt to make the league reciprocate that compassion, but now that both sides have planted their flags and dug their trenches, that leaves the fans in the middle of what could be an obscenely expensive legal battle.
The most honorable, decent provision of Avenatti's settlement offer to the league was that his team would not take any money from what was paid to the fans or charge them with any legal expenses. "Not one penny," the letter reads in italics. The letter asked for $450 mailed to each and every fan, which the NFL responded to by offering their own kind of settlement in the form of a "reimbursement plan" - which came off more like a fruitless inconvenience than an actual offer of contrition or compensation.
Avenatti concluded the letter giving a deadline of Friday at 12:01, or else the offer would be "withdrawn in full, and we will fully litigate the case to conclusion. This will include seeking all damages, attorneys' fees and expenses allowable under the law to the fullest extent possible."
The gloves are off, the ink is dry, and the dump trucks of money are ready to back in - for everyone but the fans involved.
Class-action lawsuits have their drawbacks for the class itself. While it can give every single fan a chance at compensation, there's also a good chance that compensation is minimal after the legal fees incurred before and during litigation. The profits generated by Avenatti's team will outweigh any kind of compensation for the fans, especially factoring in the time, energy and emotion that's already been poured into this debacle and will continue to pour. This doesn't necessarily make the lawyers the "real bad guys"; they're doing what any legal team would do under normal circumstances. It's just an unfortunate reality.
Lawsuits like this can also take longer than individual cases due to their complex, cumbersome nature. You don't need to be a legal expert (which I am not) to know that the fans who get involved in this case are going to get dragged through an exhausting, agonizing buildup with a meager payoff. As a "winner" of the recent Ticketmaster class-action lawsuit, I've never felt like such a loser.
Further, those same fans aren't likely to stop watching their hometown teams - in this case, mostly Packers and Colts fans - for even a single game, let alone boycott the NFL. As is tradition, Roger Goodell and the owners hiding behind the curtain know that most fans aren't going to stop feeding the monster, even though it's the only way to bring about any kind of significant change.
While the HOF Game case drags on for what will likely be several years - the lawsuit stemming from a seating controversy in Super Bowl XLV from 2013 didn't go to trial until last March - the fans in question will continue to consume the NFL's increasingly flawed yet incredibly addictive product. The problem isn't that they're going to do that, but that the league knows it.
Neither settlement offer was ever realistically going to be accepted in this case, meaning the NFL has yet another complicated legal battle on its plate. But in the end, the NFL will (probably) draw massive ratings and revenue, if not setting new records. Their expenses in this case, and the public scorn that may come from it, will be a mere blip. The lawyers will end up "doing their jobs" and getting compensated handsomely for it - even if they "lose" the case, they will still "win."
Ultimately, as it works far too often, the fans are the only ones in this case who will end up in the loss column.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
