David Mancina, who is a huge New Orleans Saints fan and St. Tammany Parish resident, has filed a class action lawsuit against the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell seeking damages totaling over $5 million on behalf of himself and Saints season-ticket holders at the New Orleans Superdome. The lawsuit is concerned with the suspensions handed out to Saints players and coaches for their alleged participation in the Saints’ bounty program.
Mancina and the other the season ticket holders purchased their tickets expecting the Saints would be fielding a team in contention for the playoffs this year. They were expecting the fine athletes, and the best coaches to play the game of football in the style in which they are accustomed with the Saints organization.
They would like to go to the games and enjoy a great year of football without the dictatorial, unreasonable, vindictive, and unfounded, interference from the Commissioner and the League.
The suit claims that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who suspended Saints coaches Sean Payton and Joe Vitt, General Manager Mickey Loomis and players Jonathan Vilma and Will Smith, did so “without consideration for the rights of the paying ticket holder Plaintiffs.”
The league also forced the Saints to give up their 2012 and 2013 second-round draft choices- “thereby degrading the quality of the Saints and the value of the tickets purchased by the Plaintiff. Lawrence Wiedemann, who is Mancina’s lawyer is himself a Saints fan said he hopes the suit will bring more consideration to NFL fans in the future.
“The fans are a critical part of the NFL,” he said. “When it comes to changing the complexion of your team, the fans have no input. The fans are not even notified or considered. Wiedemann said the season ticket holders have been ignored since the investigation started in 2009. “In 2012 they have dealt a major blow the team,” he said. “The season tickets purchased have been devalued tremendously and the NFL has given no consideration to the ticket holders that are the life of the NFL. There is no due process.”
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league has no comment on the lawsuit.
Saints Linebacker Jonathan Vilma who has been on the PUP list since this summer is now claiming that he will play this Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers down in Tampa. Vilma is still suspended for the year so this is shaping up to be somewhat of a showdown. Play Ball!
