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October 29, 2008
Only 300 people splurge on Jets PSL auction
Looks like Wallace Matthews wasn't totally wrong about high-priced ticket demand in the post-bubble economy: The New York Jets ended their personal seat license auction on Monday after selling just 620 of the 2,000 seats they'd made available. That means that while the average PSL sale price was $26,000 (with the top bid coming in at a staggering $82,000), demand dropped off quickly, with no more than 310 people - since winners were required to buy at least two seats apiece - willing to meet the $5,000 minimum bid.
The Jets say they'll now put the remaining 1,380 seats up for sale at a fixed price, once they've analyzed the results of the auction. If they try to charge more than $5,000, they're likely to hear more crickets.
Are these bids - specifically the $82,000 one - from corporate entities, and if so, do they become "business expense" write-offs against federal income tax liability?
Posted by Fred McCarthy on October 30, 2008 09:26 AM
I believe corporations can only write off the ticket price, not the PSL, but I'll have to check on that.
Posted by Neil on October 30, 2008 02:18 PM
When you take out the likely bogus initial bids ($200,000 each for the first 2 PSls-this was more than likely a business friend of the Johnsons setting an artificially high floor to help Woody out) and the few other high bids for 45 yard line seats in the first row, most of the 620 seats that sold probably only averaged in the range of $17,500.
Forget about the first row. How about the 2nd through 15th rows. Those are not exactly bad seats, and the Jets were finding it hard to sell them at any price.
One person I spoke with told me he saw some of the last of the 620 PSLs sell for a mere $12,700 per seat.
What does this all mean for you and me?
All fans need to do is hang out and hold out and all prices for the entire stadium will drop dramatically.
Knowing this, the Jets will likely hold out from making the other seats available for quite some time. I would not be surprised if they started trying to move some privately along with other quiet perks in order to create an illusory initial PSL sell-through and an artificially high average PSL price prior to opening up the next round of bidding.
The bottom line is relax. When the Jets apparently sold only 31% of the seats they intended to sell, and the last ones were supposedly going for under $13,000 per seat, all you have to do is wait.
Look at it this way. If, on the open and unmanipulated market, the Jets might only receive close to $10,000 for a PSL for Coaches Club Seats, why would I want to pay $25,000 for a PSL in the Great Hall Club on the vistors side of the stadium?
The people in the Coaches Club have already gotten a far superior deal than what Jets season ticket holders are being offered for far worse seats.
Just in case you do decide to buy a PSL, please check with your accountant to see if you can mark your PSL to market and take a tax deduction since it will likely be worth far less than what you paid for it, the second after you buy it.
Remember the Raiders� attempt at PSLs? Prices dropped so quickly that they reportedly needed to abandon the entire PSL process midstream. In the end, all of those people who bought the first PSLs were out of luck and were simply stuck with worthless pieces of paper.
Unless the Jets are prepared to give PSL holders actual ownership interest in the franchise or a percentage of concession sales (which they will never do), the team does not deserve to have its loyal fans and local businesses pay for the new stadium.
More importantly, PSls at these prices simply represent a bad investment and a bad business decision.
Lets hope the fans and regional business leaders will chill. Don�t believe the hype. The longer we all wait, the cheaper PSLs get.