Tice’s scalping fine a costly record-setter for NFL coaches

Friday, July 1, 2005 | 9:44 a.m.

SUN WIRE SERVICES

Mike Tice's decision to scalp Super Bowl tickets has earned him what is believed to be the biggest fine ever levied against an NFL coach.

The league announced Thursday that commissioner Paul Tagliabue fined the Minnesota Vikings coach $100,000 for breaking NFL rules against reselling Super Bowl tickets for more than face value.

In addition to Tice, Vikings running backs coach Dean Dalton and special teams coordinator Rusty Tillman were fined $10,000 apiece for the same infraction. All three were informed of the disciplinary action in a letter from Tagliabue, according to a statement released Thursday.

Vikings spokesman Bob Hagan said Tice, Dalton and Tillman were on vacation and would not be available to comment. Tice's agent, Jimmy Sexton, did not return a phone call. New Vikings owner Zygi Wilf is on vacation in Colorado and could not be reached.

Tice did issue a statement through the team. "I respect commissioner Tagliabue's decision," he said. "I used poor judgment and it will not happen again. I apologize to my family, Commissioner Tagliabue, the NFL, the entire Vikings organization and the fans. I consider this matter closed and remain focused on the upcoming 2005 season, which should be an exciting year for Vikings fans everywhere."

Greg Aiello, vice president of public relations for the NFL, said the league would have no further comment but acknowledged the fine was believed to be the biggest a coach has received.

The amount, however, is far from unprecedented for the coach of a professional team. In May, Jeff Van Gundy of the Houston Rockets was fined $100,000 -- the largest against an NBA coach -- after he said an official who was not working the NBA playoffs told him center Yao Ming was being targeted by referees after complaints by Dallas owner Mark Cuban.

But while Van Gundy is making $18 million over four years, Tice's $750,000 salary last season made him the NFL's lowest-paid coach. He is due to earn $1 million in 2005.

Tice's scalping of Super Bowl tickets became public knowledge in March when an anonymous tipster called the league's security office and at least three other media outlets.

Tice initially denied any wrongdoing to the media, but he admitted during a five-hour meeting with NFL investigators that he had scalped some of his 12 Super Bowl tickets in January to a broker for more than face value.

According to a report on Sports Illustrated's Web site, Tice and Dalton sold the tickets for $1,900, more than three times the face value price of $500 or $600 they paid for each. Tickets can be purchased to the game by NFL coaches, players and team executives.

"NFL policy prohibits the scalping of any ticket to an NFL game or event," the league statement read. "NFL clubs are reminded of this policy each year in a memo from the commissioner."

Tice also acknowledged he collected Super Bowl tickets from players and resold them in bulk while he was an assistant with the Vikings. Tice, who served as an assistant from 1996 to 2001, said he stopped that practice when he became head coach in January 2002.

There was speculation that Tice's actions might earn him a suspension, but Tagliabue said during a visit to Minnesota in April that he didn't think the discipline, "would include a suspension."

As for other substantial fines against NFL coaches, then-Cowboys coach Barry Switzer was docked $75,000 in 1997 by owner Jerry Jones when Switzer was caught by airport security with a handgun in his bag. Jones fined him in lieu of the league taking disciplinary action.

Former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo received the largest NFL fine against an individual, when the league fined him $1 million for involvement in a gambling-fraud case in 1999.

He originally signed with Utah in 1997, then left for a religious mission in Pittsburgh from 1998-2000. He received the heroism award from the Mountain West Conference after rescuing a woman from a smoke-filled apartment in 2002.