EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The New York Jets announced a personal seat license plan that will cost some season-ticket holders between $4,000 and $25,000, but spares thousands of upper-level seats from the new fee.
The PSL plan was announced for the Jets' new 82,500-seat stadium the team will share with the New York Giants. The stadium is scheduled to open in 2010.
The Jets' plan differs significantly from Giants' PSL plan, which imposes a $1,000 fee for the upper-level seats. While both the Giants and Jets will call the stadium home, the building's facades will change depending on which team is playing.
Jets owner Woody Johnson said Tuesday the decision to spare the upper-level seats from PSLs was not affected by the Giants' plan. There are about 27,000 seats in the upper bowl section of the new stadium.
“This was not based on the Giants,” he said. “It was based on our research and discussions we've had with fans.”
Jets fans with seats in the lower bowl and mezzanine end zones will have to pay PSLs ranging from $4,000 to $20,000. Licenses for other lower-level club seating that features climate-controlled lounges and other amenities will go for as much as $25,000 per seat.
Season-ticket holders will be able to select seats, based on seniority, beginning in late 2008 and continuing into next spring, said Matt Higgins, the Jets' executive vice president for business operations.
The most expensive seats will be on the field directly behind the Jets bench and will be auctioned off this fall via the Internet, Higgins said.
The auction will be restricted to current season-ticket holders and people on the season ticket waiting list, which is about 12,000.
The Jets and Giants are paying for the stadium, which will cost an estimated $1.6 billion. Johnson said the Jets hope to make about $170 million, after taxes, from the PSL plan. Giants co-owner John Mara estimated last month that the team would bring in roughly the same amount.
“Public financing is going to be less and less a factor in building new stadiums and arenas, and it certainly was the case with us,” Johnson said.
The announcement of the PSL plan comes at a time of overall change for the Jets, who finished 4-12 last season after making the playoffs in 2006.
The team is preparing to move into new training facilities in Florham Park, N.J., next week, about 25 miles from the stadium, after 40 years at Hofstra University on Long Island. Earlier this month, the Jets traded for star quarterback Brett Favre to replace often-injured Chad Pennington.
Johnson called the new stadium a “monumental” development for the franchise. The Jets, then known as the New York Titans, started at the Polo Grounds in 1960, then played at Shea Stadium and Giants Stadium, where they will play for the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
“This is a team that's never had its own home,” he said. “The concept of having a home field is a major concept. I don't think there's anything, including Super Bowl III, that matches the impact that this building will have.”
The new stadium is being built next to the current Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands sports complex.
