Bob CollinsThere are plenty of stories out there of people who’ve been priced out of the new Minnesota Vikings stadium, even though they’ve owned season tickets for years.
But there’s another reality of the big business world of professional sports: It doesn’t matter to teams like the Vikings; someone else will be happy to buy the tickets.
That much seems clear today with reports that 90 percent of the stadium’s personal seat licenses have been sold.
The licenses are a particularly horrible shakedown that professional sports teams foist on their customers, basically grabbing quick cash for the right to buy tickets. The stadium-builder licenses are required for 49,700 seats in the 66,200-seat stadium, the Star Tribune says. License prices ranged from $500 to $9,500 and once you own one, you can buy a season ticket at full price.
It could be worse. The Strib says a PSL in the new Atlanta Falcons stadium will run as high as $45,000.
Some fans consider the licenses to be “investments” since they can be sold to other fans later. There was a time when the licenses increased in value, Forbes reported in 2012, but that was before teams jacked up the price.
But many Vikings fans may not be fans at all. Dozens of the licenses are already listed for sale on PSL Source. One is listed for $900,000. It’s for a seat in the second row near the goal line. The original Vikings asking price? $3400.
Maybe the seller will throw in a free Beanie Baby in the deal.
