How much is a season ticket holder's butt worth?
In the Vikings' case, it better be about $125 million.
That's how much the team has pledged to contribute from the sale of personal seat licenses to a new stadium in Arden Hills. The Vikings' would be the first Minnesota pro team to introduce PSLs, which have become a popular stadium funding means in recent years.
The best part about PSLs: It counts as the Zigy Wilf's contribution to the stadium's cost, but it doesn't come from his pocket. It's a new, heretofore untapped revenue source for the team.
A PSL is nothing more than a fee season ticket holders pay for the right to purchase season tickets. How much they pay depends on where the seats are. The fee does not count as a downpayment on season tickets, and it's levied against each ticket.
The New York Giants charged between $2,000 and $20,000 for their PSLs for the new Meadowlands stadium in New Jersey. The New York Jets, which share the stadium, charged similar amounts but had to cut the price in half in the weeks leading up to the season opener. There's also an active, third-party market in the buying, selling and trading of PSLs
The new Vikings' stadium has 65,000 seats, which works out to about $2,000 per seat. If the team raises more than $125 million, the surplus would be used to:
The agreement, such as it is, can be found here.
