Empty Seats - The Shadow of PSL Nightmare
Edition #405
Good morning! ☕
With the Jets having cancelled mandatory minicamp next week, we’re about to go into our own version of darkness until late July when the team reports for training camp.
That causes some issues for a daily newsletter, but I’m confident we’ll find something to talk about. This leads me nicely to today’s post which is a combination of a report I was sent yesterday and a question I received from reader David Bishop on PSLs and the future of the Jets in NJ as opposed to NY.
I decided to keep this newsletter free to read for everybody today as I think it’s quite an important topic to cover. But if you like what you read, don’t forget to hit that subscribe button above to get more of the same.
🗓️ The Jet’s pre-season schedule has been made official by the league. We’ll kick off the pre-season on 8/3 - vs. Browns (at Canton), at 8 pm, then move onto 8/12 - at Panthers, at 4 pm, before finishing with 8/19 - vs. Buccaneers, at 7:30 pm and 8/26 - at Giants, at 6 pm.
📈 PFF ranked the top 32 EDGE defenders in football yesterday and only one Jet made the cut with John Franklin Myers being placed into the 4th tier at #21 overall: “Franklin-Myers is a unique edge player at 6-foot-4 and 288 pounds, but he has lightning-quick hands and a ton of power. He’s recorded a 74.0-plus pass rush grade and a pass rush win percentage above 15.0% in each of the last three seasons” - There was no place for Carl Lawson on the list, which I have to admit surprised me a little.
🚨 They also ranked all 32 projected starting centers and placed Joe Tipmmann at #32 - “Tippmann earned 78.0-plus PFF grades in both of his final seasons in college before being drafted by the Jets with the 44th overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft. He’s projected to slot in as a starter right away.” Being a rookie and completely unproven, that’s not a surprise. John Michael Schmitz was placed at #30 with the Giants.
🔑 Rich Cimini had a great article about the impact of Aaron Rodgers and a section at the end caught my attention, which may offer some insight into the kind of offense we’re going to see this year: “One of his pet peeves with Matt LaFleur's system is that it relies heavily on motion. In fact, the Packers ran some form of motion on 596 plays last season, 10th-highest in the NFL, according to ESPN Stats & Information data. (The Jets were fifth at 639 plays.) The LaFleurs learned from San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, whose system is predicated on motion. Many coaches believe motion makes it easier to read defenses and create favorable matchups, but Rodgers prefers a static approach because it enables him to go up-tempo whenever he wants. As evidence, he notes that Manning did it this way with the Indianapolis Colts. Chances are, Rodgers will get his way.” If you have a smart and accurate QB who is adept at reading coverages, you can go hurry-up and reduce the motion, which is often used to help QBs figure out the coverage.
I’d like to make a confession straight away. I don’t understand PSLs.
It’s not that I don’t understand the logistics around them and how teams use them to generate revenue, often to fund new stadium projects. I don’t understand how teams get away with it.
Let me offer some context for that statement. I’m a season ticket holder here in the UK for Norwich City, and for 23 home games, I pay around £534 a year. That works out at around £23 a game, or around $28. That is largely the same whether we’re in the Championship or Premier League, the difference is the number of games. When you’re in the Premier League you get 19 home games instead of 23, which means the price per game is around £28 instead of £23. But considering the jump in talent you see visiting Carrow Road when in the Premier League, the very small price jump is worth it.
Obviously, Norwich are not one of the elite teams in the country. However, if you look around the league, you’ll see that football in this country is accessible.
Arsenal’s cheapest season ticket is £973, or around £51 a game ($63). For Liverpool, you’re looking at £699, or around £37 a game ($46). For Manchester United, you’re looking at £559, or around £29 a game ($36) And for the current champions Manchester City who are one of the most entertaining clubs in world football, a season ticket can cost as little as £385 or £20 a game ($24).
As I said, accessible. If a Premier League club tried to introduce PSLs there would be a riot the length and breadth of the country. If you’re a season ticket holder, your seat is held year after year unless you decide you don’t want to renew it. Technically, that seat is yours until you no longer want it. That for me is season tickets.
So back in 2008 when the Jets revealed that they were moving to a PSL system where fans would need to pay between $4000-$25,000 dollars just for the right to then purchase tickets, I was pretty shocked and absolutely dumbfounded at the contempt that NFL teams seem to have for their fans. Loyal spectators who’d been with the team since the Polo Grounds were now being told that they needed to fork over $50k if they wanted to keep their seats at midfield
Fast-forward 9-10 years and those same PSLs were going for a fraction of the cost. According to one report, some of the $25k seats were being sold on the official Jets PSL resale site for just $4.5k, meaning a loss of over $20k for the original buyer. The Jets started offering season tickets without PSLs in areas where PSLs had previously been required, which angered one fan enough that he decided to sue the Jets. He ended up losing that case, but the damage had been done.
If you look at the history and current use of PSLs, it’s largely been restricted to North America. The only one I could find that wasn’t located there was for the Gold Coast Titans, an Australian rugby league side who compete in the NRL in Queensland.
There are contradictory accounts of who invented the PSL and as such, we’re not 100% sure who to send the hate mail to. Some say it was Stanford University tennis coach Dick Gould who wanted to finance a new tennis stadium. Another suggests it was a Columbus architect by the name of Rick Othanian who proposed it as a means of financing a proposed facility. However, the most widely accepted account is that it was Charlotte sports marketing agent Max Muhleman whose ideas helped the city land the Hornets.
But you may be interested to know that according to Max Muhleman, the concept of the PSL was founded as a way to thank fans who pledged support to the team by buying season tickets, it’s believed that the ability of Charlotte to sell 10,000 season tickets before the team was even awarded to the city was a reason for them receiving the franchise.
“Muhleman never meant for the PSL to become an investment. It was simply about thanking the fans who pledged their own money to help support a new team or stadium. The idea of re-selling Charter Seat Rights didn't even occur to Muhleman” - According to a report in Vice.
PSLs for many people was considered an investment. Steelers, Ravens and Bears fans saw the value of their seat rise by up to 243%, but that bubble burst and it was the Jets, Giants and 49ers who had to bear the brunt of it. As mentioned above, the resell value of many crashed, meaning that if you bought the PSL as an investment, you’re likely out of pocket.
Of course, a big portion of the fanbase bought tickets out of dedication to the franchise and love of the game. I know we have a lot of season ticket holders who read TJW every day and to them I tip my cap, for as much as I love the Jets, there is no chance I’d take out a 15-year payment plan to spend thousands of $$’s for the right to buy tickets. To this Brit, the concept is absurd.
That was actually a very long introduction to what I wanted to talk about today.
First of all, let’s start with the report1 that I received yesterday which outlined that the Jets lost over $4 million in revenue last year through empty seats. This was calculated based on the attendance records and the minimum price of available tickets.
What that showed was that on average, the Jets had 4,491 empty seats per home game. The cheapest ticket available was $112.56 meaning that per game the Jets were losing $505k.
Woody will be hoping that his prized off-season acquisition will ensure that the stands are full in 2023. If you believe the marketing hype coming out of 1JD, the early signs look good. But will those fans packing the stadium be Jets fans? Obviously, the diehards will be there come rain or shine, but having spoken to several season ticket holders, something has become clear.
Due to the cost of PSLs, fans are sometimes forced to choose the games they want to attend, and then sell their ticket at above face value to help cover the yearly costs of the PSLs. That is a sad state of affairs, but I don’t blame the fans for that, that’s on ownership.
Interestingly the report showed that Green Bay lost more than any other team in the league, loving on average over $1 million per game in empty seats, or over $9 million per season.
The Buffalo Bills were just behind the Jets with $3.7 million in lost revenue, the New England Patriots were at 26th with just over $250k of lost revenue and the Miami Dolphins were all the way down at 31st with just $83.6k of lost revenue.
This brings me to the second point which is the question from reader, David Bishop, asking what happens when the PSLs are paid and will the Jets then explore a move into New York City?
On the first point about what happens when the PSLs are paid, the only answer I have is not a lot. The point of the PSLs was to raise capital to fund the stadium and a lot of that has already been raised. The stadium cost $1.6 billion and the hope was that the PSLs from the Jets alone would raise around $340 million. More was expected from the Giants as they placed PSLs on the upper deck as well. The rest was made up of NFL G-3/G-4 loans and the naming rights, which Metlife pay around $17-$20 million annually on a term that lasts 25 years, so another $500 million.
Basically, the PSLs served their purpose for what Woody Johnson and the Jets needed.
On the second point, while it’s possible the Jets could move into NYC, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Technically, one of the teams can opt out of the stadium in 2025 as long as they provide 12 months’ notice and manage to convince the other team to remain for the remainder of the 25-year lease that was originally agreed upon. Considering the uproar about the PSLs at this stadium, the cost of moving and the fact that the Jets would likely need to finance a new stadium all on their own, I’d be surprised if anyone exits the lease anytime soon.
Now that we’re approaching 15 years on the lease, teams have the option of exiting every 5 years. So if the Jets don’t make a move in 2025, they can in 2030 or 2035.
The report was produced by gambling.com and emailed to me.
“ PSLs are a great investment “, words by Commissioner Roger Goodell. “ PSLs are nothing but a legal Ponzi Scheme” words by ex- season ticket holder, Bobber
Was a season ticket holder for 37 years. When I received my great investment opportunity not only was “my great investment $4,000 a seat but the ticket price went up from $85 to $105. After much consideration ( approximately 37 seconds, I said go f**k yourself.
The day that both tenants announced their legal heist of their fans, Giant swindler, John Mara went on NY sports talk radio saying that the PSLs were necessary for the Giants to compete. He gave his reasons player’s salaries, upgraded practice facilities, the whole ball of wax. Kimberly Jones filling in for the Fat Man asked Mara how about the naming rights. Mara said I’m not here to talk about those.
Rumor was that the naming rights for the four gates that let you in the stadium were sold for what was a ten year deal equaling 400 million and that’s not counting naming rights for the stadium.
When Giants Stadium was originally built, Bergen County tax dollars paid for the parking lot. To lure the Giants back then, it was agreed that the Giants would get $1.00 a car for every event that was held at Giant Stadium, soccer games, concerts, Rutgers football then eventually parking for Jet games. So when I paid $5 to park for Jet games when the Jets first moved there,$1 went to the Maras. Maybe that was used for acting lessons for the Maras daughters.
with the PSL bill also came the parking charge $35 a game.
So my county taxes paid for the parking lot and now my reward for 37 years of loyalty was to pay $35 a game.
Also, you were assigned parking lots to park your car, the most expensive PSLs parked in the closer lots.
One more advantage that was advertised in the original PSL Sting was that PSL owners would get first crack on any other event being held in that disaster called a stadium, including concerts. My first thought was, wow, first crack on Springsteen tickets but wait a minute, what happens when the Giant PSL owner of my seat gets his opportunity to buy the same exact seat at the same concert, same day.It took me 20 seconds to figure it out. We sit on each others laps.
The worst part of the PSL rip off, the Jets lost home field advantage. Visiting teams fans bought from season ticket holders, secondary sources and the Jets themselves game tickets. Many Jet games seemed like away games by the crowd noise.
They say Karma is a bitch, the Jets haven’t been in the playoffs since they pushed the GREAT INVESTMENT.
Lastly I want to thank Goodell, Woodhead and Clueless Chris,I stay home to watch the Jets even though I live 15 minutes from the stadium.
My bathroom is about 15 feet from my sofa, no lines. Refrigerator same distance, different direction. Temperature always 68-70, no rain, snow or wind. I don’t have to get up 30 times for the beer drinkers in my row because there is no row. Lastly, car outside parked for free.
I was pretty lucky over the years. When the Titans were in the Polo Grounds, my dad got us in because he worked with the retired cop who ran the show there. There were always seats because it was the beginning of the AFL and the Polo Grounds were a dump. When they became the Jets and moved to Shea Stadium, I was able to get good seats at a decent price because my cousin Tony was the head usher. I also got into a lot of other events gratis and had good seats for the Mets. When they moved to the Meadowlands I was able to go frequently because my nephew had bought season tickets and he saved a seat for me. When the entire MetLife/PSL garbage started he was like " This is a bullshit Ponzi scheme and I'm not going to do it !" He works in the financial industry and is very big in mergers & acquisitions and is the smartest person I have ever met, so I didn't doubt him at all. After that, he went to important games by getting tickets through one of his college classmates. Presently, he's the CFO of a financial operation and they had bought a block of tickets through the PSL nonsense and he goes regularly and I get to about half the home games. It's a long way from the Polo Grounds to MetLife, but the PSL garbage has cheapened the atmosphere, not to mention tickets that get sold to fans of our opponents.