The Falcons' bizarre season-tickets-only strategy is going to price most people out

By: Steven Ruiz | July 26, 2017 3:28 pm
The Atlanta Falcons’ stadium sounds awesome. There’s a gigantic bird statue. There’s a ridiculously cool 360-degree video board wrapping the stadium. And, best of all, the concession prices are among the best in all of sports.

There’s just one problem: It’s going to cost a bunch of money to actually watch a game there. The Falcons will not be selling single-game tickets this season, so fans will be required to buy season tickets as well as Personal Seat Licenses, also known as PSLs, in order to watch a game at Mercedes Benz Stadium. Fans can go through secondary markets, which typically drive up the prices for tickets, especially so for teams coming off a Super Bowl appearance.

Via the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

[The Falcons are] mandating fans purchase season tickets and accompanying personal seat licenses (PSLs) that range from $500 to $45,000 per seat to get into that building, on top of the cost of admission ($55 to $385 per ticket).

There will be no sale of single-game tickets. This has been the Falcons’ public stance all along, but it never seemed realistic until now. They’ve sold approximately 55,000 of 61,000 available PSLs and they’re confident the final 6,000 will go in the next eight weeks.

Suddenly that cheap beer doesn’t sound so great.

The PSLs should make Arthur Blank a cool $250 million, according to the AJC. The Falcons will also receive $200 million in tax money on top of that along with more tax money to help with maintenance and repair over the next 30 years. The stadium cost around $1.5 billion to build, but Blank will receive all revenue from the stadium despite its status as a public venue. It shouldn’t take too long for him to recoup the money he put down.

The ticket policy makes sense for Blank from a financial standpoint, but alienating fans who can’t afford season tickets may not be the best strategy considering how much funding he’s getting from the public.

And, no, this is not a common practice with new NFL stadiums. The Vikings, who opened a new stadium in 2016, are selling single-game tickets. Same goes for the 49ers, who opened their new stadium in 2014.

I smell a bit....

The PSLs should make Arthur Blank a cool $250 million, according to the AJC. The Falcons will also receive $200 million in tax money on top of that along with more tax money to help with maintenance and repair over the next 30 years. The stadium cost around $1.5 billion to build, but Blank will receive all revenue from the stadium despite its status as a public venue. It shouldn’t take too long for him to recoup the money he put down.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Yes it is.

When this is all over, which is not going to be for a while, Trump will be re-elected President.

Atlanta is such a dumb assed pro sports town. It warms my heart to see this

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Are you stoned or pissed off, or both, when you create these postings?

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.