The best thing a football franchise can do for their fan base is build a state-of-the-art stadium with all the modern-day amenities and accommodations.
It is also the worst thing they can do.
The New York Giants have teamed with the New York Jets to build such a stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands, which will open in 2010.
Initially, Giant fans were thrilled at the news and the idea that they would be getting a football mecca of their own, one that promises to be better than any building currently in use by any NFL team.
Unfortunately, many of those ticket holders will not be able to renew their tickets at the new stadium. The team has instituted a personal seat license policy for all ticket holders. It is a one-time fee of anywhere between $1,000 and $20,000 per ticket. Fans in the lower tiers will pay the highest.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Many season ticket holders will be forced to reduce the number of seats they have and others will just cancel their accounts outright due to the outrageous cost.
I personally know many season ticket holders who have lower tier seats. For some of them, who have four seats, the season currently costs them roughly $!,000 per seat. Under the new plan their tickets will now cost them $80,000 just to retain their lower tier status, plus the price pf the tickets.
To add insult to injury, ticket prices in the new stadium will rise by approximately 50%—in the case of the four seat ticket account holder their bill will jump from $4,000 to $6,600 annually.
People who have had Giants' season tickets are being priced out by this initiative. I understand the stadium is running above budget and the economy has soured, but why is it that the consumer always suffers?
The players' salary cap is increasing every year, the NFL revenues are rising every year, but the fans' incomes and net worths are not. These "PSL's" will break the backs, and the hearts, of many Giant fans who have bled blue for years.
In accepting the Vince Lombardi Trophy last January, John Mara dedicated it to the fans who supported the team for the past eight and a half decades. Now, through economic attrition most of those fans can no longer afford to be part of the gameday crowd. Generations of families that have supported the Giants in person will now be cheering from afar.
Many of the real fans will be watching on television from here on in. Just like most everything else these days, only the wealthy will be able to enjoy America's pastimes in person.
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4 months ago
Welcome back!
from 4 months ago
Thanks
whats up?
4 months ago
Excellent article. I've never been to a Giants game, but plan on going to one this season. These PSLs are ridiculously priced. Yet another reason why athletes and fans are much more distant these days.
from 4 months ago
Thanks, Fred
4 months ago
the PSL are a little ridiculious.. if you don't have the money for the stadium than go take out a loan like everyone else in America does... But on a positive note the stadium should be as nice of a stadium as it gets...
from 4 months ago
Loans are hard to come by these days....
4 months ago
Welcome back, John! I hope this isn't a cameo appearance...
from 4 months ago
Hey....! No, i plan on writing a couple of times a week
4 months ago
Hey John! You're back on The Bleacher! Welcome!
4 months ago
Having been a Giant fan and season ticket holder back to the time before they didn't have a stadium, the Giant administation and owners have gotten very spoiled and greedy. I am sure that Wellington and Tim Mara would be appalled at the shafting that their "old loyal fans" are getting with this PSL. Why don't they stick the cost of the PSL to the corporations who want all these additional "superboxes"? They mention improved tailgate facilities! What could they possibly change? The color of the asphalt? Why are the fans paying for a new rail line? At 15 dollars to park your car, 25 dollars for a hot dog, drink, cracker jacks, and the cost of the seats....this has become extortion. The Giant owners should be ashamed of themselves for being so greedy and dishonest.
from 4 months ago
That's why I stay home....haven't been to a game in several years
4 months ago
Good for John Mara, fleecing all those Giants fans and providing sports pablum to mollify all those boring people who have nothing constructive to do with their lives when they are not at work.
from 4 months ago
The reason reason most of them are not at work is because they probably got laid off.....
4 months ago
Hey, NY Giant fans are getting the best stadium the citizen of __New Jersey__ can pay for... part of me wants to say it is only fair they get fleeced too. With that out of the way, what a rip! I can't believe anyone would be foolish enough to pay that much for the right to be charged an addition 50% for the actual tickets.
from 4 months ago
yep it is a little ridiculious that New Jersey plays for a team titled "New YORK Giants" frankly they should've tried to get the stadium somewhere in New York even if it was a little farther outside of the Manhattan or any of the other 4 boroughs
from 4 months ago
New York was a no-go for football stadium. The state refused to finance it. You can thank good-old hardball partisan politics for that. Joe Bruno hates NYC and did everything in his power to prevent a West side stadium for the Jets. If the state were to provide financing the stadium would have been built in Queens or Long Island, which we know was not a real possibility.
The Giants have never seriously considered coming back to NY, the only NYC stadium talks were with the Jets.
4 months ago
I would've just kept the old stadium, at least I know that I won't have to pay an extra $1000 just to watch a game on top of the ticket prices.
4 months ago
So much for my Top Writers status. Welcome back John!
4 months ago
The fans are not going to be able to share in the profits yet they are paying for half the cost of the new Stadium. I am a ticket season holder who will probably buy a 106 inch Plasma and watch the games at my house and happily not charge admission. I am saving $12, 700 ;2PLSLs, seson tickets for 2 and parking pass and a lot of gas probably at $5.00 a gallon.
JohnS
4 months ago
The worst part is having to share the house. It is not a place of our own at all, it's "duel" occupied. Ya think having won the Super Bowl; and sopping up all the riches that come with it they could at least be more fair to the fans....Blue Collar team my foot.
I'll be watching from home again. The last games I saw were ND vs Army in the 1980s, a real classic - even had the Jints there taking pre-game practice before Sun. I watched LT kick field goals and hit tee-shots out of the stadium. The last game I saw there was The G-Men vs The Redskinned, in 1996. Thank God for ESPN and cable.....thats a joke.
Great write up JF
from 4 months ago
Thanks Lou....you are not alone in your sentiments. Many diehard fans who stuck it out over the years and kept going to the games are also fed up...
4 months ago
Hey John
Why the hell are the Giants building in NJ, when there are two stadiums becoming available in 2009? I know there aren't enough seats right now, but a baseball diamond is bigger than a football field, so downsizing the area needed for the field would raise the number of seats.
I am not sure about the Mets, but the Yanks seat 55,000 right now, with added seats toward the field it might be 80 or so, and they could add seats in the "black section" adding even more without going sky-word. Or we could just become the NJ Giant Jets
from 4 months ago
Patrick...thx for reading
The Jets were angling for a Manhattan Westside stadium, which was voted down by the Prince of Darkness himself - Joe Bruno. Had they waited for his departure, they might have just gotten what they wanted.
Since they could not build on PRIME real estate in Manhattan, they decided to team with the Giants on a megaplex and stadium in NJ. Its going to be a disaster to get to and from because of an adjoining complex called Xanadu...you should look that up on the net...what a waste
from 3 months ago
HaHa-Joe Bruno, he's still around? I thought by now he would have been voted out. So, just to recap - the giants / jets, the mets, and the yankees are using tax money and building new stadiums as the WTC re-design hits a snag every other week?
Maybe a few emails to the ny st assembly and senate, cc'd to all major medias would help raise a question or 10 -
Liked the read my friend, keep on rockin
Goo Jints
I read that with a touch of the ole button that the new stadium can turn to blue or green - how fancy.
from 3 months ago
Patrick
Bruno finally stepped down last week at 77 years old. The WTC is a separate deal - brokerage firms are bailing out left and right which is holding up the works as well as politics
3 months ago
I really don't know the particulars however being in Charlotte, the Panthers' BoA stadium was the 1st PSL type (to my knowledge). And I would say you are quite correct: it is aimed at money. The licenses will be bought mainly by businesses who will give the tickets out to people who have varying degrees of loyalty.
The natural result? Numerous no-shows when things aren't going well and an often uninspired crowd at other tumes. When you play Green Bay or Dallas there will be a huge number of opposing fans who manage to get their hands on these corporate tickets.
And the biggest lie? YOU pay for the owner's stadium. THEIR name is on the title. Any concerts, college games, etc that take place there doesn't put a dime in the pocket of the PSL owner.
from 3 months ago
Very true, Jack. But I can safely say that visiting teams already have a presence in stadiums across the country thanks to ticker broker services. Season ticket holders are putting a lot of their tickets up for sale on the net to make a few bucks - and guess who's buying them?
3 months ago
One quick note. As hard as it is now to get a single game ticket to a Giants game, both in availablility and price, it will be nearly impossible once this ticket system is in place. Its a shame. Thats probably why I've only been to 3 Giants games in my whole life.
3 months ago
Being a Jets season ticket holder since Shea Stadium, as is my entire section at the current Giants stadium, I know for a fact these PSLs are just going to get rid of most of the real and true fans in favor of, as someone said above, coporate buyers. Who can afford up to $20,000 just for the privilege to pay even more to buy your seats? Are these PSLs going to include your actual names on the seats? I can garuntee there will be some disgruntled Jets and Giants fans upset with the opposing fans names on their seats!
At least as Giants fans you are currently paying less even after your Super Bowl win!
from 3 months ago
A damned shame....I just want to see how many people go for it
3 months ago
My parents have had Patriots season tickets since 1992 (when the Pats were 2-14). It had been decided many years ago that when they were no longer able to go to games, the tickets would simply be transferred to me. However, when Robert Kraft built Gilette Stadium with entirely his own money for over $600 million, he also implemented the Patriots "Pass It On" program - depending on where your seats are, you have to pay a one-time fee of between $15,000 and $25,000 in order to pass your account over to an immediate family member.
In 2007, the Patriots had the highest ticket prices in the NFL, and they raised the prices significantly for this season. Our seats, in the second tier in the corner, went from $89 per seat per game to $117 per seat per game. That's an increase of 31%.
Also, I think season ticket holder in the league would agree that we shouldn't have to buy preseason tickets at full price.
3 months ago
And furthermore, it outrages me that the Patriots have revoked season ticket accounts for some people who have resold their tickets legally on StubHub.
from 3 months ago
What? Tell me more....
from 3 months ago
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2007/10/19/patriots_get_stubhub_users_names/
That article pretty much sums it up. We only resell to people we know, never through a middle-man. We never resell our regular season tickets for more than face value (we usually go to most of the games). Playoff games though, we make a killing on those (if you have been to Foxboro in January, you'll understand why we sell those tickets).
3 months ago
Is there anything current season ticket holders can do? Class action lawsuit anyone?
from 3 months ago
Interesting idea. Not sure there is a precedent for such a thing....
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