PSL Pricing/Seat Selection Discussion

[plenzmd1]

5 hours ago, FormerLV-BILLS said:

I am a long time member, and used to post a lot.  For some reason my account went AWOL and I never posted again in years.  I posted about my tickets/PSL's but I had to make a new account it was approved weird, took a long time, and I don't think many people saw because they are asking questions about sections close to mine.  Here was my experience / thoughts.  My PSL meeting was back in August.  I have 24 years of seniority.  Copied and pasted.  Hope this helps.

 

I had my meeting a week or so ago via phone since I live in VA.  I've had season tickets for 24 years.  I'm in Section 134, Row 40 between the 45 and 50 yard line on the Bills side.  Lower Bowl.  My current tickets are awesome.

 

Just a few notes from my own personal opinion so you know my mindset before I answered the call.  I didn't want a new stadium.  I also don't think the renderings of the new stadium have personally created any extra excitement in me whatsoever.   It looks about as bland as you can get in today's world of creative architecture.  My favorite part of the new stadium are the giant buffalos outside of the stadium.  Compared to what Tennessee and Cleveland have just shown, I personally think Buffalo's is already subpar.  However, I understand the new concept, a possible available budget for it, and that's just my $.02.  So, I've been somewhat pessimistic from the entire process of this new stadium.  Deep down in, I've probably know this was when my season ticket holder status would end.  In 2026.

 

My PSL's for my current two seats in the lower bowl are 15K a piece.  So, I would pay $30,000 just to have the "privilege" to purchase those new season tickets that would about double in price from what they are now.  YIPPEEEE.  I love the Bills.  I love going to games.  But I'll be damned if I'm paying roughly $38,000 to enter that stadium in 2026.  It's pure garbage, and I pretty much said that. 

 

My rep also acted like a used car salesman and asked what I would be comfortable paying to get me in that new stadium and locked in.  That's also garbage.  That's like those of you (which I actually hope nobody does) tells that car dealership what you would like your payment to be for that shiny new car they have sitting in the showroom.  They can make the payment whatever you need it to be by fixing their terms.  It felt similar here.  I instead asked my rep.......why don't you tell me what the PSL's are for the entire stadium so that I could pick what I'm comfortable paying according to the prices that are set for certain seating areas.  She countered that with the fact that she doesn't even know what the prices are.........I interrupted her and said, well......you can tell whoever made that decision for that process is also garbage.  I told her this is like playing a used car pricing game, and they are about as far from transparent as you can be while going through this. 

 

Even though she said she didn't know any other pricing in the stadium, she then "hinted" at some other PSL costs on the next steps down.  So, they know more than they are letting on.  To sit on the Bills side of the field is more expensive than the visitors side.  I do know that.  My corresponding PSL's on the visitors side of the field are $10,000 a piece instead of $15,000 on the Bills sideline.  She also said that if I didn't act quickly that these seats would be gone within days.  Even though, it took three different emails, multiple phone calls, and A TEXT at 6pm at night.......really.......6 pm at night blind text to see if I would hop on a quick call.  That's the one that hooked me in.  I actually texted back and said yes.  However, if those tickets are flying off the board, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't need to try to communicate with me so hard.  Lastly, she did hint that the next step down in PSLs in the lower bowl ran all the way to the endzone corners and those are 8k per seat.  I wasn't quite clear where that 8k started, but that's what I was told.

 

To wrap it up, I told the lady I have two girls heavily involved in high school athletics and simply asked her if she thought I should give a billionaire 38k instead of investing in my daughters.  Hell, I told her I could easily fund my daughters high school teams and provide a better life for them instead of paying PSL's at that price point.  Even though I was venting and provoking her a bit, she answered gracefully, and said I had to do what was best for me.  She did well there.  I give her credit.  I told her after 24 years of being a season ticket holder that I was done, and I'll just pick and choose individual games that I want to attend in the future on someone else's PSL dime.

 

The entire thing stinks to me.  I hate being a fan of the NFL.  Sometimes it's even embarassing that I am.  But I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I won't watch games anymore.  Because I will.  I not going to sit here and pretend to not be a Bills fan anymore, because I will be.  I'm still going to go to games.  I'll just purchase on the secondary market instead, and save at least $50,000 over the rest of my lifetime.  But it doesn't mean it doesn't stink.  Think about it.  $30,000 to have the right to purchase tickets to watch a football game.  It's downright ignorant.  And I am a person that is lucky enough that I can probably afford that at the current time.  I'm just choosing some restraint at this moment.

 

I don't blame Pegula and the NFL for making as much money as they can.  That's what you do in business.....try to make money.  But lately, I'm just getting a bit more picky about how much I give them.  I don't buy jerseys anymore.  I don't do much except go to the games and try to spend as little of my money on the NFL stuff as possible.  But I still do love it.  Love the players.  Love the City.  And I do appreciate the Pegula's keeping the team here. I've just personally had enough on some things.  This is one.  

 

If anything, hopefully this helps some of you with where price points currently are. 

#1) thank you for the post, and you have the right to do what you want to do..absolutely. And feel how you feel 

 

 

#2) Pegulas have the right to do what they want to do as you stated The local and state govt gave him the money as they did not want to lose what they consider a civic asset. He is charging the PSL as he thinks he can, we shall see if they sell them all out

 

#3) I understand their sales process, as many lower bowl seat holders would  have said just give me the upper deck in the lower rows...but then those folks in those seats currently get the hammer put to them... it's a rock and a hard place I think

 

#4) Bills tickets lower bowl between the 30's was probably the best value in sports for decades. They are no longer, they are market rate for an NFL game. Sucks we are eating the increase, but thankful we had years of below-market pricing. My gut tells me those tickets are eating the biggest percentage increases as they were below market to start. Have a feeling the 400s will not see that much of an increase and there will be plenty of $1-2K options on the PSL.

 

#5) I am with you, I am perfectly happy in the old stadium, but that style of stadium has gone the way of the dodo bird. It was inevitable we get a new one, if nothing else for safety's sake . That upper deck ain't making it another decade.

 

#6) Everyone needs to make their choices, but I hope folks going through the process are nice to the salespeople. They are not setting the pricing or policies, just doing their job and trying to do the best for themselves and their families.

 

 

[PromoTheRobot]

On 10/6/2024 at 2:37 PM, Rocbillsfan1 said:

So what happens they go from 64,000 season ticket holders to 30,000?

 

are they really just going to sell single game tickets and not allow people to get tickets for 1 whole season? 

 

They don't have 64,000 season ticket holders now. They have 64,000 season tickets held by 25-30,000 holders.

 

They will probably sell any unsold seats. That's what they did at the Meadowlands.

On 10/6/2024 at 4:19 PM, Rocbillsfan1 said:

Bro you are just making stuff up. They are charging 9k so far for tickets on the 30 yard line. The lowest I see PSLs going for are like 5k. This isn’t going to fly in Buffalo. 

 

30 years line seats in the lower bowl are considered premium seating. 

 

@Kirby Jackson explained this years ago. Building a new stadium allows teams to recalibrate seat prices. Those 30 yd line seats were just seats in 1972 when Rich Stadium first opened. Today those are clubs.

[Kirby Jackson]

On 10/6/2024 at 4:19 PM, Rocbillsfan1 said:

Bro you are just making stuff up. They are charging 9k so far for tickets on the 30 yard line. The lowest I see PSLs going for are like 5k. This isn’t going to fly in Buffalo. 

They easily sell out. They have PSLs for $8K in the club. There will be tons of PSLs at $2500 or less. The Bills haven’t released the pricing yet so that they can adjust as needed with the most populated areas of the stadium. They’ve only released the most expensive so far.

 

The hard part is done (or mostly done). I’m not sure everyone fully understands that. The thought for most is, “the people with the most expensive seats are the likliest to buy in the new stadium because they have the disposable income.” The reality is you might be asking those people for $40K for 2 PSLs as opposed to the people still coming that may be $3K for 2 PSLs. There’s a 10 year payment plan option.
 

The people that had to make the tough financial decisions are pretty much through the process. It’s going to cost more than it does currently but don’t think that the vast majority will get “priced out” moving forward. The people that got whacked the worst were the people in the lower level between the 30’s. 

Edited October 8 by Kirby Jackson

[plenzmd1]

5 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

They easily sell out. They have PSLs for $8K in the club. There will be tons of PSLs at $2500 or less. The Bills haven’t released the pricing yet so that they can adjust as needed with the most populated areas of the stadium. They’ve only released the most expensive so far.

one thing they could not tell me today and they were touting is the areas in the lower bowl with rails/standing areas etc. They tried to sell that as an asset, but I asked rep if that area was restricted to only 100-level tickets. He said no, and my immediate thought was people would buy the lowest price ticket in the 400s, and just get in when the gates open and stand at 50 yd line for the entire game. The ticket will prolly be close to $200 cheaper. Go with a group of dudes and the area is your for the duration. 

 

My concern is they were selling the concourse as heated and being able to see the game from these area's, but I don't think that's gunna be the case. Jerry world, if you don't have a 100 level ticket, you don't get into the 100 level..period.

 

I would like to see that in this stadium. 

 

And our rep said no clubs are available outside a 3 ticket tranch in field clubs, and we need 4.

[Mike in Horseheads]

2 hours ago, plenzmd1 said:

one thing they could not tell me today and they were touting is the areas in the lower bowl with rails/standing areas etc. They tried to sell that as an asset, but I asked rep if that area was restricted to only 100-level tickets. He said no, and my immediate thought was people would buy the lowest price ticket in the 400s, and just get in when the gates open and stand at 50 yd line for the entire game. The ticket will prolly be close to $200 cheaper. Go with a group of dudes and the area is your for the duration. 

 

My concern is they were selling the concourse as heated and being able to see the game from these area's, but I don't think that's gunna be the case. Jerry world, if you don't have a 100 level ticket, you don't get into the 100 level..period.

 

I would like to see that in this stadium. 

 

And our rep said no clubs are available outside a 3 ticket tranch in field clubs, and we need 4.

Interesting because the haters say the team is having a problem selling the clubs

[Estro]

Psl's are such a bad buy for consumers. Wait until 40 mins before kickoff and get a really good seat for $250-350. Do that a few times a year and you're in for 1000ish a season..beats the hell out of clunking down 5-10k on a useless PSL thats worth absolutely nothing.

 

If you have the money fine, but if you're on the fence at all it's a hard pass IMO

[Diggstheprocess]

3 hours ago, plenzmd1 said:

one thing they could not tell me today and they were touting is the areas in the lower bowl with rails/standing areas etc. They tried to sell that as an asset, but I asked rep if that area was restricted to only 100-level tickets. He said no, and my immediate thought was people would buy the lowest price ticket in the 400s, and just get in when the gates open and stand at 50 yd line for the entire game. The ticket will prolly be close to $200 cheaper. Go with a group of dudes and the area is your for the duration. 

 

My concern is they were selling the concourse as heated and being able to see the game from these area's, but I don't think that's gunna be the case. Jerry world, if you don't have a 100 level ticket, you don't get into the 100 level..period.

 

I would like to see that in this stadium. 

 

And our rep said no clubs are available outside a 3 ticket tranch in field clubs, and we need 4.

I asked the same question about “the ring” around the lower bowl. My rep said they will not be having tables there or selling seats there. Also said the lower bowl concourses will not be restricted to lower bowl ticket holders. 
 

I was not pleased that there aren’t any 100 level/lower bowl seats that are truly covered by the roof. 

[RiotAct]

5 minutes ago, Diggstheprocess said:

I asked the same question about “the ring” around the lower bowl. My rep said they will not be having tables there or selling seats there. Also said the lower bowl concourses will not be restricted to lower bowl ticket holders. 
 

I was not pleased that there aren’t any 100 level/lower bowl seats that are truly covered by the roof. 

nice… snag a cheap upper deck ticket, then head down to the lower level concourse to watch the game.  Sounds like a plan to me!

[Diggstheprocess]

1 minute ago, RiotAct said:

nice… snag a cheap upper deck ticket, then head down to the lower level concourse to watch the game.  Sounds like a plan to me!

Exactly… until they realize they can monetize that… and there will be high top tables there for a premium 

[Mango]

24 minutes ago, Estro said:

Psl's are such a bad buy for consumers. Wait until 40 mins before kickoff and get a really good seat for $250-350. Do that a few times a year and you're in for 1000ish a season..beats the hell out of clunking down 5-10k on a useless PSL thats worth absolutely nothing.

 

If you have the money fine, but if you're on the fence at all it's a hard pass IMO

The only way I consider PSL’s is if I get right of first refusal to purchase anything that comes to the stadium. And even then I’m hesitant because we only get 8-10 football games per year and nothing else.

 

But if they start getting concerts, winter classics, monster trucks, WWE, etc. stuff I could go to or sell, then I’d gladly plunk down the clash. 

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, Estro said:

Psl's are such a bad buy for consumers. Wait until 40 mins before kickoff and get a really good seat for $250-350. Do that a few times a year and you're in for 1000ish a season..beats the hell out of clunking down 5-10k on a useless PSL thats worth absolutely nothing.

 

If you have the money fine, but if you're on the fence at all it's a hard pass IMO

They really aren't an investment. It's you picking up a part of the cost of the building.

[Mike in Horseheads]

12 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

They really aren't an investment. It's you picking up a part of the cost of the building.

The only person I ever heard say "PSLs" are a great investment was Roger Godell

[Kirby Jackson]

7 hours ago, Diggstheprocess said:

I asked the same question about “the ring” around the lower bowl. My rep said they will not be having tables there or selling seats there. Also said the lower bowl concourses will not be restricted to lower bowl ticket holders. 
 

I was not pleased that there aren’t any 100 level/lower bowl seats that are truly covered by the roof. 

In my opinion, this is the biggest fail in the process. It doesn’t make any sense to me. No one wants to get pounded with rain/snow, especially after the last few seasons. They said 60% of the stadium is covered. I have no idea why that isn’t a lot higher (even if they didn’t build a dome).

[Just Jack]

9 hours ago, Diggstheprocess said:

Exactly… until they realize they can monetize that… and there will be high top tables there for a premium 

 

That's what my local minor league baseball team has done.  Used to be you could stand on the concourse behind home plate and watch the game.  Now they have high tops with 4 seats in that area, $150 for the table and seats.  

[LabattBlue]

I still think it is unfair that the 40 year STH between the 20’s is kicked to the bottom of the list for any other section because he doesn’t want to pay the outrageous prices for similar seats in the new stadium.  
 

The whole process should have been seniority based regardless of where your seats are. 
 

 

[Rocbillsfan1]

1 hour ago, LabattBlue said:

I still think it is unfair that the 40 year STH between the 20’s is kicked to the bottom of the list for any other section because he doesn’t want to pay the outrageous prices for similar seats in the new stadium.  
 

The whole process should have been seniority based regardless of where your seats are. 
 

 

100% that’s messed up

[Rocbillsfan1]

lol at now calling any seat that isn’t an actual club seat a club seat when it isn’t even covered and doesn’t have the amenities as a real club ticket. I’ve sat in the Jim Kelly club for years before switching out of there. There’s a big difference. 

[Kirby Jackson]

2 hours ago, Rocbillsfan1 said:

lol at now calling any seat that isn’t an actual club seat a club seat when it isn’t even covered and doesn’t have the amenities as a real club ticket. I’ve sat in the Jim Kelly club for years before switching out of there. There’s a big difference. 

There is a club on the lower sidelines between the 20’s (on the east side). It’s called the East Club. Food and beverages are included in that club too. 

Edited October 8 by Kirby Jackson

[RiotAct]

3 hours ago, Rocbillsfan1 said:

100% that’s messed up

yeah… can see why they do that though (since very few STHers in the current upper deck are gonna want to spring for the high PSL fees and yearly ticket prices in the 100s at the new place)

[Kirby Jackson]

6 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

I still think it is unfair that the 40 year STH between the 20’s is kicked to the bottom of the list for any other section because he doesn’t want to pay the outrageous prices for similar seats in the new stadium.  
 

The whole process should have been seniority based regardless of where your seats are. 
 

 

 

4 hours ago, Rocbillsfan1 said:

100% that’s messed up

 

20 minutes ago, RiotAct said:

yeah… can see why they do that though (since very few STHers in the current upper deck are gonna want to spring for the high PSL fees and yearly ticket prices in the 100s at the new place)

They did it by a combination of spend and seniority. FWIW, I went through this process 15 years ago and we did it the same way. You need to get the most expensive stuff sold first. That’s what has the shortest list of potential replacements. It’s harder to sell 50 club seats than 500 upper level seats. 
 

The people that sat in a particular area the longest, are getting the first choice in that area (for the most part). It isn’t perfect but it’s absolutely the right way to do it and how others do it.

Edited October 8 by Kirby Jackson