Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Jonathan Vilma is not only a star NFL linebacker, he’s also quite the business man. Vilma owns several bars and is also a part owner of a chain restaurant called Brother Jimmy’s BBQ. As a resident of Miami and savvy business man, Vilma agreed to put a Brother Jimmy’s stand in the newly opened Miami Marlins‘ stadium in 2012. Now over a year later, the Marlins are suing Vilma and BJB for allegedly failing to pay $75,000 in sponsorship fees from 2012 and that the company failed to give 60-days notice before they pulled their stand from the stadium.
Vilma and his company are disputing this and counter suing , saying that there was no formal agreement in place and that the stadium was preparing BJB’s food so poorly, that they had no choice but to pull the stand. Here’s what the Pro Bowl linebacker had to say on a radio show this week over the legal battle:
“We did voice our concerns and we actually personally went there, we went to the games and we wouldn’t let them know who we were, we’d go and taste our own food and we’d tell them look, ‘this food is not to our standards.’It hurts us as a business because if for the first time a fan goes to Marlins stadium, they taste Brother Jimmy’s, they say ‘this food is terrible,’ and all they’re gonna remember is the bad food and or service that they got at the Marlins stadium and we expected better than that.”
BJB has reportedly paid the Marlins $25,000 in ‘good faith’ so far, but clearly they have no intentions of giving them another nickel. BJB is now seeking reimbursement of the $25k and an undisclosed amount of additional money for damage to the company’s name and reputation.
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