Seahawk game change left Montana family out its travel costs

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, December 12, 2023

This is a truly sad day for my family. I was sincerely looking forward to the surprise on my 8- and 10-year-old sons’ faces when I showed them their Christmas gift on Dec. 17 was actually tickets to their first ever Seattle Seahawks game.

What a memorable moment for two boys who wear Hawks gear to school everyday, way out here in Montana. How great to find out that the unexpected flight to Seattle wasn’t actually to go watch the fish fly through Pikes Place but was instead the opportunity to see their team live in one of the greatest venues in all of sports.

My wife and I were proud to save thousands of dollars and take time off work to provide this experience. Unfortunately, with two weeks notice after the NFL moved the game from Sunday to Monday, Dec. 18, re-booking flights and missing extra days of work would literally cost several thousand more dollars and now we are forced to cancel our travel (with no refund) and deal with the holiday season disappointment, all so the team and NFL can cash in for a few more million dollars from its corporate partners.

Speaking of corporate partners, knowing that this was happening, how hard would it have been for the team and NFL to enlist these partnerships in the travel and hospitality industry to offer some form of reimbursement or vouchers for fans like us who are suddenly left in the lurch for a substantial sum and more importantly a missed experience?

I was not surprised that the team customer service representation hid behind the fine print that “all events are subject to change” given the multi-billion dollar behemoth that is the NFL, just disappointed. Seattle has become one of the wealthiest cosmopolitan cities in America and Seahawks fans have been on a fortunate run these last 20 years, but there are some of us ‘Hawks fans who remember the ’80s and ’90s, and you just lost one.

Carl K. Schillhammer

Anaconda, Mont.