Posted on 10/22/2008 11:19:44 AM PDT by JZelle
The New York Jets had what appeared to be a genius idea. Rather than sell personal seat licenses for their new stadium, they would auction some off and allow market forces to take control. Football is the most popular sport in America, so it seemed like a good way to ensure the team would maximize revenue.
But then the economy went south, and now it appears things aren't working out quite as well as the Jets had hoped.
The background: The Jets have several premium seating areas at their new stadium, set to open in 2010. The most prized area is known as the Coaches Club, a section near midfield that includes access to a bar and restaurant and a special area at field level just a few feet behind the Jets' bench. The Jets planned to auction off PSLs on those seats on Stubhub.com while selling the PSLs to other premium areas for $25,000.
So, naturally, the Jets needed the Coaches Club PSLs to average more than $25,000 a pop or they would look foolish.
Things looked promising when bidding started Sunday; a number of PSLs finished with winning bids of more than $60,000. But then things started to shift. Some sold for just $20,000. Then $15,000. Then only $11,000. Overall, it appears the average winning bid could be less than $25,000, meaning the Jets may be forced to lower the price of other premium seating areas. Bidding continues throughout this week.
To be clear, the Jets are still making plenty of money selling seats at the new stadium. The PSLs, keep in mind, are the one-time purchases fans are forced to make before they buy season tickets, which are priced at $700 a game.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Talk about a bubble!
Insanity. Who would pay that much to watch the Jets? I would like to thank them for taking Brett Favee off our hands. A-Rodg is much better at this stage of the game. Thanks Jets!
These high-priced sports/entertainment spectacles are going to be a major casualty in any economic stagnation. What makes the Jets’ situation interesting is that they’re sharing the stadium with the Giants, and the Jets knew they couldn’t pursue the same PSL plan the Giants implemented because the demand for Jets tickets simply isn’t as strong as for the Giants.
NFL is getting too big for its britches.
The day my time starts that cr@p, I will be spending my Sundays mowing the lawn instead.
One can hope, but most professional sports teams are nothing more than overpaid welfare queens who simply get the taxpayers to pay for their playgrounds. As long as taxpayers are paying for new sports arenas, sports teams will never really feel any economic pinch.
I think Farve was a great qb, but it seems over the last few seasons he’s thrown more interceptions in clutch situations than any QB that I can think of. He’s probably better than pennigton was but, not much.
I’m pretty sure that no public money is being used to build Jets/Giants stadium.
The new stadium in New Jersey is kind of unusual in that it hosts two different NFL teams. So the NFL actually doubled the amount it usually provides in matching funds for any new stadium (from $150 to $300 million, I believe).
The Jets and Giants are selling PSLs to help raise up-front revenue for their own share of the construction costs.
$25,000 per PSL, that is a hell of a lot cheaper than the Jerrydome. I think the highest was $164,000.
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