On Wednesday, the bizarre case regarding the bizarre failure of the NFL to provide enough seats to correspond with the tickets sold to Super Bowl XLV took a bizarre turn.
The plaintiffs attempted to stop jury deliberations based on comments from Scott Suprina, president of Seating Solutions, suggesting that his testimony in the case was influenced by pressure applied by the NFL.
“They encouraged me not to tell the whole story,” Suprina told Darren Rovell of ESPN.com. “They reinforced what my position should be before the deposition.”
The plaintiffs asked the judge to order Suprina to the witness stand to repeat that comment and elaborate on it. He has since elaborated on that comment with comments to the Dallas Morning News.
“I don’t lie for people. I don’t lie, period,” Suprina said regarding sworn testimony that was videotaped and played for the jury handling the case. “Whenever you’re deposed, your obligation is to answer the question truthfully. Every time, I did.”
Per Mosier, Suprina said the effort to stop the jury deliberations arises from a “misunderstanding” of the ESPN.com article. Suprina told Mosier that pressure from the NFL persuaded him to keep quiet publicly for years and not vigorously defend his reputation. But he said he didn’t change any testimony to please the league.
“I’d be happy to go down there and tell more of the truth,” Suprina said. “I frankly believe it’s a waste of the ticket holders’ time. I don’t have any secrets. I don’t know of anything that would help their case.”
The final quote from Suprina used by Rovell definitely couldn’t hurt their case, if the judge would allow Suprina to say it in court: “I can’t even comprehend how the NFL let it get this far without settling it. Other than what I’ve seen before: ego.”
