374 ESTATE PLANNING AND COMMUNITY PROPERTY LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 4:369
2) If direction by deceased under will or specific writing to family
devisees defined in (b) but not to devisees who are not defined in
(b), even with direction.
b) To family, defined as, spouse and ‘blood’ relatives who are not
more than first cousins, on direction of ticket holder in writing during
his or her life-time. (Excludes, for example, transfer to friends.)
Green Bay’s policy of transferring the tickets to the decedent’s children
requires that the children agree on the transfer; if there is not an agreement, the
organization will not transfer the tickets.
The Green Bay Packers have one of
the more detailed explanations of the different NFL organizations’ transfer
policies.
Green Bay’s policy is probably so detailed because the Packers have
one of the largest waiting lists of all sports organizations.
The Green Bay
Packers are unlike many other organizations such as the Boston Red Sox,
Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, and San Diego
Chargers, who refuse to allow the transfer of season tickets.
The St. Louis
Cardinals have created a marketplace in which current season ticket holders can
transfer season tickets; however, the Cardinals do not have a specific policy in
place for when a season ticket holder dies and wants to transfer the tickets.
Duke University basketball tickets are usually nontransferable upon death,
but for a $50,000 fee and an annual contribution of $6,000, one man, John
Dorton, made it possible.
Duke’s policy, similar to Green Bay’s, is to first
transfer the tickets to family members when a season ticket holder dies.
However, Duke’s policy does not require the agreement between siblings like
the Green Bay Packer's policy, and as a result, Dorton’s daughter, who did not
receive the tickets, filed a lawsuit, which has not yet been adjudicated.
The
University of Texas only allows two kinds of transfers: students can transfer
. Official Policy on Transfer of Packers Season Tickets, PACKERS, http://www.packers.com/tickets/
season-tickets.html (last visited Mar. 10, 2012).
. Id.
. Compare Green Bay Packers Season Ticket Transfer Form, PACKERS, http://prod.static.packers.
clubs.nfl.com/assets/docs/season_ticket_transfer.pdf (last visited Mar. 10, 2012), with St. Louis Rams PSL
Transfer Form, ST. LOUIS RAMS, http://www.stlouisrams.com/assets/docs/PSL_Transfer_Form_2_2_11.pdf
(last visited Mar. 10, 2012).
. See Frequently Asked Questions, PACKERS, http://www.packers.com/fan-zone/faq.html (last visited
Mar. 10, 2012) (showing that the Green Bay Packers have approximately 81,000 people on a waitlist for
season tickets; this is approximately a 30-year wait).
. Reese et. al., supra note 20, at 164.
. See, e.g., Ballpark Founders Marketplace, CARDINALS, http://stlcardinals.seasonticketrights.com/
Ballpark-Founders-Seats/Sellers.aspx (last visited Mar. 10, 2012).
. See Simon Brown, Fire Lawsuit Over Duke Basketball Tickets, SPORTS HR (July 18, 2011),
http://sportshrdept.blogspot.com/2011/07/fire-lawsuit-over-duke-basketball.html. See also Aaron Beard,
Duke Basketball Tickets Lawsuit: Katina Dorton Sues Sister Over Season Tickets, HUFFINGTON POST (July
15, 2011), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/duke-basketball-tickets-lawsuit-katina-dorton_n_
900091.html.
. Beard, supra note 44.
. Id.