License to Cheer: How PSL’s are Pricing Out Longtime Fans
23. Dec, 2009 
44 Comments
Karl Kaufman
by Karl Kaufman
It’s an acrimonious acronym that inspires nearly as much contempt among New York football fans as the IRS does for anyone who’s ever received a paycheck. Yes, the dreaded PSL (short for Personal Seat License) is on many season ticket holder’s minds as the Jets and Giants wind down their final games at Giants Stadium and prepare to move to the New Meadowlands Stadium situated across the street.
The new Meadowlands Stadium PSL plan is pricing long-time fans out of the market.
To offset some of the debt needed to build the new stadium, the Giants and Jets are becoming the 14th & 15th NFL teams to raise cash by requiring their season ticket holders to purchase PSLs. A PSL is a one-time fee, ranging from $1,000-$20,000, that gives the holder the right to buy season tickets each year. PSLs can be transferred or sold, but the holder must buy season tickets each year, otherwise the PSL will be revoked without refund.
One season ticket holder, who requested anonymity so as not to effect his standing with the team office, has had two tickets in the front row since he started coming to games with his father forty-five years ago. The Giants sent him a letter stating that in order to buy season tickets for the new stadium, he would have to first buy a PSL for five thousand dollars. “After debating whether it was worth it to spend the money, I decided I wanted to still be able to bring my boys to the games and continue the family tradition,” he said. “Once I plunked down that five grand though, the team told me that I wasn’t even guaranteed the same seats, even though I’ve been sitting there every home game for the last forty-five years. That’s just outrageous!”
Facing a sour economy, the Giants and Jets are scrambling to fill those premier club seats that had previously been used for corporate perks. My father, a man with limited interest in football who hasn’t bought a Jets ticket since they were playing as the Titans in the Polo Grounds, received a mass marketing mailer from the team inviting him to attend what was, in essence, the NFL version of a timeshare meeting. If he were to take a tour of the new stadium and listen to a pitch about buying PSLs for a luxury suite, he would be rewarded with two free tickets to a Jets game this season. He asked me if I wanted to pose as him in order to get the free tickets; when I said I wasn’t interested, he ran the invitation through a shredder, along with his tax receipts.
Nice article. I’m with you and your Dad!
After reading this, I started Googling the financing. … planned out from the beginning, it looks like.
http://football.ballparks.com/NFL/NewYorkGiants/newindex.htm
I have to admit, I don’t know very much about season ticket purchases… I do have to say that it seem outrageous to require someone to buy the option to buy a product… Are fans really that dedicated? I can just imagine in other industries… “Sorry, you have to pay us $50 to even have the option to buy that $20 pair of sunglasses”.
I will be interested to see the numbers in the end… do overall sales decrease due offsetting the intention in the first place..?
That is ridiculous to start with and then you aren’t even guaranteed your same seats?! Do they just have to say that cause the seating is different in the new stadium and you will get a seat that is damn near the same thing, or is there actually a chance you will have a seat that is no where close?
The thing that irks me the most about PSL’s is that they don’t guarantee that you own the actual seat. For instance, you cannot attend a Bruce Springsteen concert or go to any other event at the new stadium in your “personal” seats. I realize the fact that the stadium is shared by two NFL teams, which creates special circumstances that would prohibit you from owning the seat. But in the other stadiums that have only one team, I think it’s totally absurd that you have nothing to show for your “license”. Even my parents can choose to stay in other countries or U.S. cities with their time share based in Riviera Maya, MX.