With a colossally expensive stadium in the works, it’s no surprise that the Rams and Chargers will be charging fans Personal Seat License (PSL) money to secure spots in the new building. But the numbers, as reported last week, are pretty jaw-dropping. A personal seat license at Hollywood Park is projected to cost in the six figure ranges for the best “premium” seats in the house.
In actuality, the charges won’t technically be PSLs – they will serve as an interest free loan to the team, refundable once the term is met. But a rose by any other name, as they say – the term is 50 years.
Personal seat licenses (PSL) allow a customer to buy a specific seat in a stadium. PSLs are not new; the idea has been practiced since the late ’80’s. However, LA’s PSL prices are expensive; The Rams stadium seat licenses range between a whopping $175,000 to $225,000 for access to one of the stadium’s 500 “all-access” seats, which will be located on either end of the 50-yard line. Additionally, The Chargers’ PSLs are pricey – $75,000 for the same seats. These PSLs do come with their perks though, including food and beverages, access to clubs, special parking and a guaranteed opportunity to buy a ticket to the Super Bowl.
This may seem like a lot of money for one seat, compared to other stadiums’ PSL prices. A PSL for the 49ers are $80,000, and are only $2,100 for the Green Bay Packers. However, the Dallas Cowboys may take the lead below LA for “most wanted” seats with $150,000 per PSL to view the game from their top seats at AT&T Stadium.
The remaining premium seats for The Rams are priced between $80,000 and $15,000, while The Chargers PSLs range between $50,000 to $10,000. A spokesperson for The Rams said that each seat in the stadium will require a PSL – with the cheapest tickets less than $1,000. In addition to the PSL, the seat owner must pay for actual tickets to each game; $350 for The Chargers and $375 for The Rams. Both teams are confident that this implemented plan will help increase sales over time and allow refunds after 50 years of the one-time PSL price.
On the other hand, the other three-quarters of the stadium will sell seats at a lower price, and throughout the first three years after opening, ticket prices won’t change.
“When it comes to the individual fan, you can curate this experience for yourself and you can find the appropriate level of pricing, the right level of seat, which team you want to identify with, and make it your own in a very personal way for your own Los Angeles journey,” Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff told the LA Times. “It’s a market of 18 million people: there’s a high end, a middle end and a low end. We have to make sure this stadium grows our fan base. That it’s not limiting, but encompassing.”
Planned to open in 2020, the Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park/City of Champions Stadium is already booked to host Super Bowl LVI in February 2022, as well as the College Football Playoff National Championships in 2023. Last August, the LA Stadium Premiere Center in Playa Vista, California opened, allowing site buyers and potential season ticket holders to have the chance to preview the stadium through a replica model.
