11/13/2003: 
Criminally Absurd
Job-Cutting CSX Corp. to Buy $1 Million in Super Bowl Tickets
from The Associated Press
Published: Nov 13, 2003
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Railroad company CSX Corp., which earlier this week announced it will cut up to 1,000 nonunion employees, recently agreed to buy $1 million worth of 2005 Super Bowl tickets.
More
The Super Bowl ticket deal would help the city prepare for the high-profile event and continue to show the Jacksonville-headquartered company's stewardship in the community, CSX Vice President Adam Hollingsworth said Wednesday.The tickets were provided by an organization called Jacksonville XXXIX, which is selling corporate ticket packages to raise funds to finance improvements to Alltel Stadium before the championship game.
The company would use the tickets to entertain Fortune 500 clients and to reward employees, Hollingsworth said. He said that the company "had some tough choices to make this week."
"I can understand those that might have difficult time reconciling these two different decisions," he said. "However we have to make decisions based on the long-term future of the company and make decisions fairly and thoughtfully."
CSX CEO Michael Ward is on the Super Bowl Host Committee - a separate entity from the stadium improvement organization. He declined to comment. Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver did not return calls.
In the third quarter, CSX reported a loss of $103 million, or 48 cents a share, after recording more than $200 million in charges to change the way it estimates injury liabilities and to settle a dispute related to a 1999 sale of international container shipping assets.
CSX has 34,000 employees and its rails cross 23 states.
