The new 49ers stadium: not for the 99%

[Auggie]

The most expensive 1,000 seats in No Name Yet Stadium will cost $375 per game - plus $80,000 for a life-of-the-stadium license to buy that one seat. Those 1,000 seats are nearly sold out.

SNIP

Only the choicest 9,000 of the 68,500 seats have been offered to current season-ticket holders, and not all of those seats have been snapped up. Maybe the 49ers will pull this off, build their stadium and fill it with roaring fans happy to pay the tab for the new digs. But missing from that glorious party will be Henry Gross and his extended family, faithful and loyal season-ticket holders since 1950.

Gross, 66, listened to the 49ers' sales pitch. His four 50-yard-line seats at Candlestick would become four not-quite-so-sweetly-placed seats. And instead of the current $129 per seat, he would pay $350 per, plus $30,000 each for seat licenses.

"I took (the 49ers' proposal) to two people I'm close to, guys who are much wealthier than I am. They had been season-ticket holders in the past. I asked each, independently, would they like the rights? Is it a good deal? Both of them told me it's horrible."

STORY: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/18/MNUA1O403R.DTL

Here's the math: Gross' sales pitch amounted to $120,000 for the four licenses plus an additional $14,000 a year in tickets. Not bad seats, but not choice ones either. How many people do you know who could, or would, swing that?

[TBF]

1. Insane.

I'm guessing in that market - SF - there are enough folks who can swing it. Celebs, tech $$$. That is a lot of money - your average middle class professional is not going to swing that. These are for the folks with inherited money and/or millions in their bank account. Definitely 1% ...

[Auggie]

2. My guess is many of the 1000 seats were bought by businesses ...

who will right-off the cost as business entertainment.

[bluedigger]

3. No doubt.

(It's write off, as in off the books.)

[KamaAina]

4. That whirring sound you hear is Hunter Thompson spinning in his grave

The Doktor wrote eloquently of the days when "pro football was a secret vice", when he watched the Niners at Kezar Stadium "with a Dr. Grabow pipe full of bad hash".

[JonLP24]

5. They need to sell those personal seat licenses to pay back the city

Last edited Wed Apr 18, 2012, 03:14 PM - Edit history (1)

If the money from PSLs, naming rights, and suites doesn't add up to $450 million (plus interest) over three years, then Santa Clara could be left holding a very large bag. That PSL sales are going well so far is certainly good news, but there's still a bunch of uncertainty — in particular, the naming-rights market has been all over the place of late — and it's Santa Clara that's taking the risk on this, not the 49ers.

In short, we're still back where we were in December: This could turn out to be one of the best stadium deals for a city ever ... or it could turn out to be a bait-and-switch in which taxpayers get stuck with a multi-million-dollar tab that they never voted for. There's really no way of saying until we see whether all those new revenue streams turn up. And even if things work out, that doesn't mean that the public gave up nothing to the 49ers in this deal — after all, risk has a monetary value, too, even if no one can agree what it is.

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/news/archives/2012/03/4859_santa_clara_49e_6.html

It could actually end up a decent deal for the city so the legislative their aren't the terrible negotiators you see in DC & Miami. But they need to sell those PSLs and those tickets. Unfortunately this stadium along with "Jerry World" raises the bar which will increase the need for other teams to build stadiums like them in order to compete.

[MrSlayer]

6. All the new stadiums are like that.

The deal Giants fans got was even crazier than that. We're pretty much priced out of everything.