Here’s an update to last night’s story about the 400 or so Super Bowl ticket holders who had to stand or watch the game on monitors because their temporarily installed seats were deemed unsafe for sitting. The NFL announced this morning that it would be offering free passes to next year’s Super Bowl to those affected by the snafu.

“It was obviously a failure on our behalf, and we have to take responsibility for that,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “We had, obviously, a lot of challenges this week. There were a lot of things we were trying to deal with. But there’s no excuses. When you put on an event like this, you know you’re going to have those sorts of challenges.”

Thus, these fans will be able to see the Eagles beat some AFC chump team at Lucas Oil Stadium next February. That is, unless the looming lockout ends in a canceled NFL season.

As previously reported, these fans will receive refunds worth triple the face value of each ticket. This was still not enough to many of the ticket holders who paid significantly more to buy the tickets through scalpers and brokers.

Trying not to pile on Cowboys owner (and owner of Cowboys Stadium) Jerry Jones, Goodell told reporters that the NFL is ultimately responsible for the f-up.

“We put on this event. This is the responsibility of the NFL,” he explained.

NFL.com reports that the league and Super Bowl organizers knew of potential problems several days before the game, but quotes a league exec as saying, “We did not feel until the game day that we had an issue where… there was a distinct possibility that we wouldn’t be able to accommodate fans.”

NFL was aware of seat issues; Ousted fans get tickets to next Super Bowl [NFL.com]