Now Look What’s Getting Tossed In Giants Stadium

A few unruly New York Giants fans don’t have a snowball’s chance of getting their season tickets back next year.

The Giants announced Tuesday that 75 season ticket subscriptions will be canceled because of a snowball barrage Saturday at the Giants-Chargers game that left 15 injured and nearly resulted in the first forfeit in NFL history.

Fifteen people were arrested and 175 were ejected from the stadium, including a retired police chief.

“People pay good money to come to Giants Stadium to enjoy a football game,” Giants owner Wellington Mara said in a statement released by the team. “They do not pay to subject themselves to possible physical harm or verbal abuse.”

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates the stadium, compiled a list of 75 ticket locations from which fans were ejected and gave it to the Giants. Those season ticket holders will have their tickets canceled.

Robert Mulcahy, the sports authority’s chief executive, said the list was compiled by taking ticket stubs from those ejected. Most of those ejected were not season ticket holders but had received them from season ticket holders, he said.

“The Giants are taking the position that the season ticket holder is responsible for whoever uses the ticket, and we agree,” Mulcahy said.

Some families have had season tickets for decades and there is the potential that they will fight to keep their tickets.

“We’ll worry about that later,” Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon said. “The most important thing from our standpoint is we’re telling 99.9 percent of our fans that we are more interested in their welfare as opposed to the 0.1 percent that come and see fit to disrupt the day for everyone else.”

The Giants and the sports authority are also offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who provides the seat location or the identity of a man photographed by the Associated Press throwing a snowball at the game.

The team and sports authority also plan to review photographs, videotape and closed-circuit surveillance to identify others who threw snowballs, the team said.

Mulcahy said the incident was disturbing because most of the people ejected held responsible jobs. In one instance, security guards ejected a teacher and then had to go back to his seat location to tell his wife and two daughters he had been told to leave.

“Tickets to a ballgame are not a license for people to act any way they feel,” Mulcahy said. “It’s got to be stopped. We have people who are supposed to be leaders in society or ones enforcing the law, and they are the ones doing this kind of stuff.”

Mulcahy said fans have a right to enjoy games and there will be changes in how the sports authority protects those rights.

Fans who have tried to bring alcohol into the stadium in recent years had the alcohol confiscated. In the future, those fans will also lose their tickets to games, Mulcahy said, noting that policy was in effect Sunday and 200 people were denied entrance.