Seating Snafu Bars 400 From Super Bowl (UPDATE: Displaced Patrons Received Perks)

Super Bowl XLV was marred by a seating scandal which prevented 400 ticketed people from taking their seats during the big game.

In a statement, the NFL cited, Incomplete installation of temporary seats in a limited number of sections made the seats unusable. Over 1,200 were affected by this blunder. 850 of them were moved to different seating areas in the stadium. The rest were refunded three times the face value of their tickets and given the chance to watch the game from a standing room only section or on monitors in a club area behind the Steelers bench.

The NFL was widely criticized for announcing that seating would be an issue less than two hours prior to kickoff, but apologized for the inconvenience to the affected fans and pledged to do a review of the manner.

It was a seen by some as a black eye for Dallas' hopes to host the Super Bowl again. Weather issues hampered transportation to, from, and around the area throughout the week, and falling snow from the Cowboys Stadium roof closed off several entrances to the stadium after injuring several bystanders. However, due to the stadium's large capacity, the city will likely be given another chance to host the Super Bowl in the near future, and it's doubtful the same mistakes would be made again.

UPDATE: According to a Tweet sent out by NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, the displaced spectators received numerous perks for their trouble. They were given free food and beverage, free merchandise, and tickets to next year's Super Bowl game in Indianapolis.