Dear Mike Stanfield,

Tuesday, March 31, 2010


Mr. Michael Stanfield
Vice President of Ticket & Suite Sales
New Orleans Saints
5800 Airline Drive
Metairie, LA 70003


Dear Mr. Stanfield:

On Wednesday, March 17, nearly six weeks after Super Bowl XLIV, many of your team’s fans were still basking in the glow of the Saints’ Lombardi trophy, especially those lucky enough to be season ticket holders. One day later, a shadow replaced that glow for the approximately 1,200 season ticket holders whose seats were permanently removed to make room for a new press box.

We are writing as The Missing 1200 (www.themissing1200.com), a grass roots group of your displaced season ticket holders that is working to ensure all 1,200 lost seats are relocated before the 2010 season. Our goal is to document every fan that lost a seat and request that the New Orleans Saints:

1. Contact each affected season ticket holder in writing with information about which seats were displaced, why the team waited to call until season ticket renewal invoices were mailed, and the specific process for temporary and/or permanent relocation in 2010.
2. Guarantee that every eliminated seat will be either temporarily or permanently relocated in 2010, regardless of how many season tickets are not renewed.
3. Keep Upper Terrace “neighborhoods” intact by relocating fans in groupings from their displaced sections.
4. Publicly recognize that the organization values the spirited culture that fans bring to the upper rows of the affected Upper Terrace sections, a culture that contributes to the unique game day experience in the Superdome.

Our itemized requests are based on a number of factors. First, while the organization long knew about the impact of Superdome renovations on seating, it did not provide reasonable advance notice to affected season ticket holders. Second, the organization did not contact all of those affected before it sent invoices to its remaining season ticket holders.

Notification phone calls created more uncertainty about the relocation process: fans were told to wait for an individual phone call in May that would update them on the possibility of relocation, presumably after season ticket renewals were calculated. Finally, and most painful, the New Orleans Saints have not demonstrated an appreciation for a core, fanatical group of its supporters, the same fans who answered your call for support after the levees broke in 2005 and who filled the re-opened Superdome in 2006.

We recognize that this is not an easy problem to solve. We appreciate the respectful conversations we’ve had with the ticket office. And we know that a World Champion organization such as yours that is so connected to its fans and their culture will find a way to accommodate us now.

Thank you in advance for addressing The Missing 1200’s itemized requests. We look forward to celebrating with you inside the Superdome on September 9, as the Super Bowl XLIV banner drops.

Sincerely,

The Missing 1200
(themissing1200@gmail.com)