At Staples Center, some suite holders get credit for lost season.

Staples Center suite holders who were miffed at not being compensated for last season's cancelled Kings games have another irritant to chew on: Some did receive credit for the lost games.

The difference depends on which contracts the suite holders signed. Staples Center, owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group, offered suite holders extensions to their long-term agreements, with no increase in price for the first year and food credits. Some suite owners didn't notice that the extensions also eliminated language in the original contracts that provided a credit if Kings or Lakers games were lost for any reason.

Fans who didn't sign the extensions retained the right under the original contract to be compensated for the loss of last year's season. The renewals they're now receiving reflect a credit that lowers the coming year's payment--unexplained, but in keeping with the contract.

Some who signed extensions say they're feeling ripped off.

"If other suite holders got credits, I would be very disappointed," said Fritz Hitchcock, who signed a three-year extension to his original five-year agreement. "It would be unfair."

When Staples Center opened in 1999, the Kings and Lakers were the only tenants. The original agreements, which ran five, seven or 10 years, offered protection if fewer than 80 Kings and Lakers games were played. (Each team plays 41 home games.)

But the extensions guaranteed a minimum of 150 sporting, concert and special events per year. Even without hockey, Staples meets that minimum. Since the stadium opened, Clippers, Sparks and Avengers games, have been added, along with men's college basketball, women's tennis, the X Games and other events.

"Any renewal and new contracts no longer reflect the 80 Lakers and Kings combined. It stipulates 150 events," said Michael Roth, spokesman for Staples Center.

The selling point for the extensions--which were offered amid news reports that the NHL season might be interrupted and then-Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal might retire--was the elimination of a price increase the first year.

Fans who wanted to extend five-year agreements signed in 1999 had no alternative but to accept the new terms because their contracts expired last summer. But those with seven or 10-year contracts had a choice.

Hitchcock and others who signed extensions said Staples salespeople did not mention the change in policy. Employees at another company discovered the difference after reading the extension contract thoroughly. That company did not sign an extension and received a credit of more than $100,000 in this year's package. (Suites cost anywhere from $250,000 to $360,000 per year.)

Roth said he could not say how much detail was included in the sales pitch. But he said customers often take weeks to sign their agreements, most suite holders were happy.

"I'm pretty confident that people read through them and understood what they were signing," said Roth.

That's not enough for Hitchcock. "In the contract itself, (AEG) is right," he said. "In the spirit of good business, this isn't right."