Personal Seating License (PSLs)

I want to talk about the one thing going on in sports that is truly giving me an aneurism every time I hear these three little words, Personal Seating License.  The way I understand this is that as a fan not only do I have to pay for the season tickets to watch my favorite team I have to pay for the seat I am sitting in.  Unless my name is put in gold and placard on this plastic seat which the majority of us do not truly fit in anyways I refuse to pay the bill.  Personal Seating Licenses are absolutely out of control.  As we all know the Giants and Jets built a brand new billion dollar stadium in New Jersey this past off season.  From the articles I have read there are some seats that the Personal Seating Licenses (PSLs) are almost $20,000 in that stadium.  Let me get this straight these two teams work as separate entities but share the same home.  So, if I am a Jets fan I pay $20,000 for section 208 row 8 seat 1 and if I am a Giants fan I pay $20,000 for section 208 row 8 seat 1.  Wow I put a down payment on a seat that technically I share with an arch rival fan!  How does this make any sense to you fans?  These billion dollar owners are asking business men, teachers, electricians and others to put this kind of money down in order to pay for the players and to see their favorite teams live.  Has Woody Johnson the owner of the Jets as well as Johnson and Johnson not sold enough baby powder and toothpaste to sign Darrelle Revis that he needs his devoted fans to help financially with acquisitions.  Well, congratulations fans you have always wanted to be a part of your favorite team and now your hard earned money is doing exactly that.  At what point do we as fans stand up and say these prices are outrageous and stop these billion dollar owners from using our hard earned money in difficult times to supply their own franchises.  Why should I pay thousands and thousands of dollars towards a franchise in my hometown of Columbus, OH, the Columbus Blue Jackets who in 11 years of existence have only made the playoffs one time? Do not get me wrong I love the Blue Jackets but there is no way I would pay for a PSL in Nationwide Arena with the effort put forth by this team on a consistent basis over the past ten seasons.  But it is up to me to put my money down or I hear threats of leaving town or not having the money to support the franchise. The fans should not have to do this; we should only have to pay for the tickets that get us in the turn stiles not for the seat that we sit in. YOU the owners need to support the franchises you have bought and stop charging the fans for PSLs.  These are the fans that come to your stadiums during the rain, the cold and the losing seasons to support your product.  The owners need to stop raiding our pockets to merely stuff their own!

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