PSLs a Real Pain in Seat

Giants fans admittedly knew they were dreaming in their hopes that the Giants new stadium would come sans Personal Seat Licenses. The bad news? The organization made the PSLs official on Thursday. The good news? The everyday fan (i.e. those with seats in the upper bowl) won’t be hit as hard as expected.

The so-called PSLs, one-time payments that guarantee the purchaser associated rights to purchase Giants season tickets, will be part of the purchase price for every stadium seat in the new building, which is expected to hold 82,500. PSL prices range from $1,000 to $20,000. Ninety percent of the seats in the upper bowl will have $1,000 PSLs. Fewer than 5,000 seats will be at the highest price.

“We have spent months exploring our various options regarding the financing of the construction of the new stadium,” said Giants President/CEO John Mara. “Given construction costs and NFL and lender requirements for paying down our debt, and after much thought and analysis, we decided this PSL program is necessary. All the net proceeds from the sale of PSLs will be used to fund construction of the new stadium.”

The PSLs are estimated to bring in more than $300 million.

Mara believes the fact that 25,000 upper-tier seats will come with the $1,000 price tag is more than fair.

“We have tried to come up with a program that gives everyone a chance to stay in the building,” he said.

Season ticketholders, who will be alerted via letter in the coming weeks, will be able to pay their PSLs in three installments, beginning this summer and concluding in 2010.