Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The Personal Seat License or PSL

The National Football League has put into place the Personal Seat License. In a nutshell it means you don't just pay for your ticket, you first must pay for the opportunity to pay for your ticket. The New York Giants levied a $1,000 PSL on approximately 25,000 tickets. On the other extreme, Jerry Jones' new Cowboy Stadium has PSLs starting out at $2,000 and climbing up into the six-figure mark from there. That will probably mean that some lifetime Texas Stadium season ticket holders will be priced out of a seat in the new digs. Not to worry, Jerry will fill your seat before you can say 'Roger Staubach'. But hold on a second. Isn't the good 'ole NFL just taking a page out of the college football playbook? At most Division 1 NCAA schools, alumni and fans have to make a "contribution" to the general scholarship fund, or the athletic association or some other designated recipient before they are allowed to purchase season tickets. And just like the pros are instituting now, the colleges have always played by the concept of the 'bigger the gift, the better the seats'. There is no right or wrong here, it's merely the way the seating game is played. Football is king and the pawns get moved all around the chess board, sometimes even off the board. Checkmate! The system just gotcha. You may call it big business, supply and demand, greed or whatever label you prefer to apply to the practice. I maintain it's probably all of the above and it doesn't matter one pigskin punt. It's like that cellular phone commercial where the only thing that is going to change are the prices. Up, Up and Away Sports Fans! You gotta pay to watch 'em play!



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