Sports briefs
Fans sue MLB
A pair of fans in New York sued Major League Baseball, Commissioner Rob Manfred and the 30 teams, asking for their money back for tickets and for certification of class-action status.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by Matthew Ajzenman, who said he bought a partial season plan for more than 20 Mets games; and Susan Terry-Bazer, who said she purchased six tickets for a May 9 game at Yankee Stadium against Boston.
“Baseball fans are stuck with expensive and unusable tickets for unplayable games in the midst of this economic crisis,” the lawsuit said. “Under the pretext of ‘postponing’ games, at the directive of MLB, teams and ticket merchants are refusing to issue refunds for games which are not going to be played as scheduled – if ever.”
Ajzenman said his Mets plan cost $1,730 and he made a first payment to the team of about $317 last year. Terry-Bazer said she paid $926 to Ticketmaster and planned to take her grandson to the Red Sox-Yankees game.
Ticketmaster, Stubhub, Live Nation and Last Minute Transactions are among the defendants. The caption on the first page included Tampa Bay Devil Rays Ltd. – “Devil” was dropped from the team’s nickname after the 2007 season.
Fans asked for “full restitution, an accounting of all MLB tickets sold for the 2020 season (including season tickets, single game purchases, and public seat licenses), a declaratory judgment that defendants’ conduct of continuing to sell tickets for the 2020 MLB regular season violates California law, as well as a disgorgement of profits from tickets sold during the 2020 MLB season.”
Brady ejected from closed park
Six Super Bowl rings may get you special treatment in a lot of places but former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady learned Monday that it won’t get you anything when you’re caught working out in a park that is closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said during a news briefing that the new Buccaneers quarterback was spotted working out by himself at a park downtown by staff patrol. The staffer went over to tell him he had to leave and she recognized the man to be the 42-year-old Brady.
“He’s been sighted,” Castor said.
The City of Tampa tweeted from its page, “Sorry @TomBrady! Our @tampaparksrec team can’t wait to welcome you and our entire community back with even bigger smiles – until then, stay safe and stay home as much as you can to help flatten the curve.”
The four-time Super Bowl MVP left the New England Patriots and signed a two-year, $50 million contract with the Bucs in free agency, joining a team with the worst winning percentage in league history.
Probation for Buffalo basketball
The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team has been placed on one-year probation and agreed to other NCAA sanctions after a former assistant coach was found to have forged recruiting documents.
The decision was announced by the NCAA and the Mid-American Conference school as part of a negotiated resolution reached Tuesday. The school said it self-reported the infractions in October and cooperated with the NCAA investigation.
Buffalo also was fined $5,000, agreed to a two-week ban on communicating with potential recruits and reduced its recruiting days by five for the 2020-21 season.