Yes, “stealing” is sort of a loaded word? But what else would you like to call this? Via Deadspin (doing the Lord’s work, as they sometimes do):
Why are Nats and O’s stealing money from their fans?
The Nationals and Orioles, each of whom went the distance in their division series and lost (the Nats in particularly heartbreaking fashion), had league championship series presales. So they’re refunding their fans for the face value of those seats, but they’re not refunding the $6 “service charge” that was tacked on to each order.
--snip--
As if the holdouts weren’t odious enough, the Orioles initially tried to pass the buck on their free money, claiming they were handcuffed by an MLB policy that requires non-refundable service charges. After hearing from MLB, and being told that this is obviously a lie, they changed their story and admitted the choice was theirs and theirs alone.
Barry Petchesky calculates that both clubs cleared an extra $500,000 apiece with this blatant ripoff job.
Great p.r., guys. Really, really great.
Update: Okay, so apparently some of the, umm, “facts” in the Deadspin piece aren’t actually, umm, facts. Sort of like most of Mitt Romney’s stump speech. But service charges are still a huge ripoff. Can’t we all just get along, and agree that nobody’s got a good plan for addressing the deficit?
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