FALCONS’ PSL SALES
The Falcons this week opened sales of personal seat licenses (PSLs) in Mercedes-Benz Stadium to the general public after previously limiting sales to current season-ticket holders. Some details:
What are PSLs? One-time fees for the right to buy season tickets.
Prices: The Falcons' PSLs range from $500 to $45,000 per seat, depending on location and amenities.
To buy: To schedule in-person or phone/online appointments with sales representatives, go to mercedesbenzstadium.com, call 678-686-4400 or email MBS@falcons.nfl.com
Stadium preview center: Located at 3284 Northside Parkway NW in Atlanta. Visits are by appointment.
The Falcons have sold personal seat licenses for roughly one-third of the seats in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, totaling about $140 million in sales, according to figures obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The figures underscore the significant amount of revenue the seat licenses will generate but also reflect that many current season-ticket holders have declined to buy.
According to the figures obtained from the Georgia World Congress Center Authority under an open-records request, the Falcons have sold PSLs to 22,434 seats for a total of $140.3 million. The figures include sales contracts submitted by the Falcons to the GWCCA through Oct. 30.
The Falcons say they are pleased with the progress, noting that about 21 months of sales remain before the team’s first game in the stadium.
The revenue generated from the PSLs — one-time fees required for the right to buy Falcons season tickets — will go toward the cost of building the $1.4 billion stadium, under construction next to the Georgia Dome.
The Falcons this week moved into a new phase of the seat-license program, opening sales to the general public after previously limiting them to current season-ticket holders. At this point, all season-ticket holders have met with sales representatives or declined invitations to do so.
“For all intents and purposes, we have concluded the relocation (of season-ticket holders) and are moving on to new business,” said Michael Drake, vice president of Legends Global Sales, the firm handling the sales program for the Falcons. “We also will continue to engage and re-engage current season-ticket holders that either declined during their meeting or kind of said, ‘Now is a bad time.’ … A big piece of this is winning back people that came in earlier and (didn’t buy).”
The Falcons, who don’t typically disclose their season-ticket sales, wouldn’t say what percentage of current season-ticket holders have bought seat licenses in the new stadium. Years ago, the Falcons said they sold 61,000 season tickets; based on that number, the PSL conversion rate to this point would be about 37 percent. But this year’s season-ticket sales number isn’t known.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium will have a seating capacity of 71,000, but some seats are excluded from the PSL inventory, including those in suites, those in sponsorship deals and those withheld by the Falcons for visiting-team officials and various business purposes. The Falcons have declined to say exactly how many seats are in the PSL inventory.
According to the latest GWCCA figures, the Falcons have sold PSLs to 4,085 club seats for total contracted revenue of $89.2 million and to 18,349 non-club seats for $51.1 million.
Drake said the percentage of seats sold “is on pace and still today better than previous (stadium) projects with 21-22 months left to opening. … I am ecstatic with the seat count to date.”
The purchases typically are financed, without interest until 2017 or with interest for an additional 10 years. Down payments totaling $19.3 million have been collected.
The Falcons said there is a one-month lag in submitting contracts to the GWCCA but declined to provide updated sales figures.
The seat-license prices range from $500 to $45,000, depending on location and amenities. Falcons season-ticket prices in the new stadium will range from $55 to $385 per game.
