Complaint brings an apology, tickets
A letter chastising the Glazers for excluding School Board members from ticket offers results in a surprise phone call.
By KELLY RYAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 25, 2001
Pinellas School Board Chairman Tom Todd learned a valuable lesson Wednesday: The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Last week, Todd wrote a letter to the Glazers, complaining that School Board members were not offered the chance to buy coveted tickets to the Super Bowl like other area dignitaries. In the letter, Todd told the Buccaneers owners that "no other government has equal or greater responsibility than school boards."
On Wednesday, he got tickets and respect.
After trying to reach Todd at work and by mobile phone, Joel Glazer tracked down a stunned Todd at home. In a 10-minute conversation, Todd said, Glazer apologized for the oversight.
Glazer also told Todd that each of Pinellas' seven board members would have the chance to buy two club-level tickets for $400 apiece.
"He was very nice," Todd said. "He apologized and said the thrust of that letter was exactly right, that they should have considered School Board members."
Todd's wife, Pinellas County commissioner Barbara Sheen Todd, was offered two tickets for her post. She sold them to friends.
After getting off the phone with Glazer, Todd offered to sell his two tickets to his daughter and son-in-law. He said he can't afford to go to the game himself.
"I really commend the Glazers for being sensitive," said Todd, obviously pleased with his victory. "That's what I call making it right."
Glazer made the same offer to Hillsborough School Board members Wednesday afternoon.
Today's Super Bowl story lineup
- Nothing but blue skies
- For Ravens' Lewis, no answers, just pain
- At decisive moment, Armstead went right
- Celebrities can eat; the rest can forget it
- We paid for it; it paid off
- Be cool, be cool
- A reward for being unique
- Football, hard? Try owning a club or two
- AFC Guest analyst
- NFC guest analyst
- Sports Babe planning long vacation to regroup
- Dilfer in his glory
- Sharpe remarks
- Reselling tickets is big business
- Super side line
- Autograph demands are a sign of Faulk's times
- Ravens quotebook
- Whether wide or short, every kicker has a friend
- Some Sharpe words greet Lewis critics
- Reluctant convert finds his bliss on O-line
- Celebrity predictions
- Hilliard can take a hit
- Lomas Brown in line for a title
- Giants quotebook
- Celebrity watch
- A field guide to the celebrities
- Media follows the NFL's food trail
- Super volunteers have more answers than Regis Philbin
- Rooms are available, but they'll cost you
- Super Bowl side line
- Lots of money, but not for all
- Sand sculptures fill tall order
- Complaint brings an apology, tickets
- Art of the game
- Highlights of the week
- New rumor, new denial: no Parcells
- Bucs' Lynch takes a ride into the wild blue yonder
- Redner to teams and NFL: I must get this off my chest
- Loving every minute of it
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