Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
An attorney for Green Bay Packers fans urged a Shawano County jury Friday to throw a flag on their former ticket broker and assess severe penalties against him for revoking their season tickets.
A civil fraud case against Shawano businessman Douglas Burris moved toward a climactic conclusion after five days of testimony and arguments centered on the dueling phenomenons of Packers fans who are desperate to get inside the games and of business people who prosper off the team’s fan appeal.
Burris’ attorney asked the jury to exonerate his client as an honest ticket broker who served his customers well for many years and then made a strategic move to get out of the business.
The jury began deliberations on the complex case Friday evening and was expected to work toward a verdict much of the night, possibly even over the weekend or into next week.
Closing arguments by attorneys on both sides signaled that the outcome could either bring heartbreaking defeat for the Packers fans who filed the lawsuit, or it could cost Burris a substantial amount of money if the jury decides that he dealt with his customers unfairly.
Attorney Rex Anderegg, representing the plaintiffs, told jurors that he hoped they would award his clients a significant amount of money, and that they would look past the ticket brokerage business structure and hold Burris personally responsible.
“Doug Burris was running the show,” Anderegg said. “He was responsible for everything.”
Defense attorney John Bartholomew described his client, a former Shawano tavern owner, as a savvy businessman who provided a valuable service to Packers fans and then came under unfair criticism because he chose not to continue the ticket operation indefinitely.
Bartholomew urged the jury to reject the fraud claims and to find that the former customers had gotten their money’s worth already.
“They had a good deal,” he said. “It’s not enough — they want more.”
The nine former customers contend that Burris unfairly stripped them of their season tickets at Lambeau Field before selling his entire ticket stockpile for $1.4 million. The plaintiffs include Shawano residents Arlene Martin, Roger Knueppel, Ronald Malueg and Todd Otto, along with Michael Landwehr, of Brookfield, Daryl Dehnke, of Eau Claire, Mark George Most, of River Falls, Grant George Peterson, of Merrill, and Gerald Vosen, of Merrimac.
Burris acquired 331 season tickets in 1991 when he purchased a downtown Shawano tavern once known as Stan & Bud’s, 115 N. Main St. The owners of Stan & Bud’s were longstanding Packers boosters, and they owned a cache of tickets that were included in the tavern sale.
Later doing business as U Make The Call Inc. and Burris Bar & Grill Inc., Burris developed a network of 76 customers who paid for access to his season tickets. In the court case, he has been described as the onetime largest season ticket holder for any team in any major sport in America.
When the Packers assessed special fees on all season ticket holders to pay for Lambeau Field expansion in 2003, Burris had to pay $463,400. He passed the cost on to his customers, which caused some customers to begin asking questions about the long-term nature of their business arrangement with Burris.
Evidence presented at trial included a letter Burris wrote to customers assuring them that they could keep their season tickets year after year as long as they did not miss a payment, did not write a bad check or did not engage in misconduct inside Lambeau Field.
He later revoked customers’ tickets and sold the business in 2012 to Event USA, a Green Bay brokerage authorized by the Packers to market special game packages to fans.
The plaintiffs filed suit in 2013, seeking to have Burris and his business declared liable for fraud, breach of contract and other counts. The suit seeks unspecified damages.
In closing arguments Friday, Anderegg told jurors that Burris and his attorneys were using “smokescreens” to conceal a scheme that, according to Anderegg, was devised to get money from customers and then deprive them of promised access to Packers tickets.
The plaintiffs in the case, Anderegg said, were stripped of what they wanted most — the chance to attend games at Lambeau Field, to bask in the tradition of Packers football, and then someday to pass their tickets on to family members.
“It’s kind of hard and not really fair to pretend we’re just talking about widgets or something,” Anderegg said. “He betrayed these people, and he ripped their hearts out.”
Bartholomew argued that Burris had treated customers fairly by giving them access to coveted Packers tickets for many years. Never did the businessman promise anyone lifetime tickets, Bartholomew said, adding that the former customers involved in the lawsuit had unreasonable expectations.
“These people should’ve known that they weren’t buying Manhattan for a handful of beans,” the attorney said.
Noting that a current waiting list includes 135,000 fans hoping to obtain season tickets through the team, Bartholomew said the business deal with Burris allowed customers to avoid the waiting list and to enjoy years of Packers football through the Shawano businessman’s unique arrangement.
“They wanted Packers season tickets, and this was the only way to do it,” he said. “Not the best deal in town, it was the only deal in town.”