PSL Pricing/Seat Selection Discussion

[Mango]

19 minutes ago, estro613 said:

It's pretty obvious what's going on: 

 

Tickets at the new place are not selling well.  There's a lot of spin and positive PR about how well the sales are going but the stories don't add up.

 

How are 80-90% of STHs in a stadium that seats 70k tripping yet the new stadium that only seats 62k is only 40% sold.

 

They can't sell the nosebleeds and lower end pricing stadium until they clear most of this middle priced inventory and I think sales @ the current price point are not going well.

 

Typically it'll be easier to sell the premium inventory to those with deeper pockets and the corporate sponsors (which seems to have been the case). On the opposite end you'll be able to move product at the lowest price range. But the middle, like 4-8k for a PSL and a 2-3k annual per ticket price is a heavy price for those considering renewing their 2-4 season tickets. That's currently the inventory they're selling and they've been at it for a long time.

 

Ive personally carried at least 4 season tickets since 2002 and I'm throwing in the towel and I know I'm not the only one who views handing over 20-30k in PSL fees to keep those 4 ticks akin to lighting money on fire.  I just can't wrap my head around that.....and that doesn't include the tickets themselves increasing in price by quite a bit.

 

But for me they told me I couldn't get closer than the back couple rows inbewteen the 35's in the upper deck. It is super strange. The cost increase wasn't prohibitive for me.

[QCity]

26 minutes ago, estro613 said:

How are 80-90% of STHs in a stadium that seats 70k tripping yet the new stadium that only seats 62k is only 40% sold.

 

 

Here's the quote from the Buffalo News a few days ago - "The Bills say that 80% of season ticket holders who visit the stadium experience sign up for new stadium PSLs."

 

All this means is that out of every 10 people that go through the stadium experience, 8 wind up buying PSLs.

 

 

[34-78-83]

Went for my visit 2 weeks ago and Maintained the equivalent of my current seats at the new stadium. PSLs for my 3 seats was not quite down to what I was wishing for but were within reason. We’re going to be fully covered as well. Cost of the actual tickets in ‘26 price was given as well, and was only about a 5% increase over my current seat prices. Overall happy with the experience and excited to have this done. The PSL’s overall are selling plenty well from what we could see as available options

Edited yesterday at 03:36 AM by 34-78-83

[fasteddie]

7 hours ago, QCity said:

 

Here's the quote from the Buffalo News a few days ago - "The Bills say that 80% of season ticket holders who visit the stadium experience sign up for new stadium PSLs."

 

All this means is that out of every 10 people that go through the stadium experience, 8 wind up buying PSLs.

 

 

That's not including STH's like me who decided that it was not worth driving hundreds of miles to listen to their dog and pony show.

[Kirby Jackson]

So we are 96 pages in and approaching the inevitable outcome?The stadium will be full and all the PSLs sold. That was never the question though. That was always the inevitable result.

 

The questions that interest me are:

- What was their original target revenue from PSLs?

- How did that target move with the increased cost of construction?

- How far from that target are they?

- How many times did they tweak / alter the PSL pricing plan to close that gap?

 

There are more I’m sure. The result was never in doubt. They’ll get there because they will just remain nimble until they do. The much more interesting part is the process. I’d imagine that where they are today is vastly different than when they originally started on the new stadium a couple of years ago. There must have been some pretty heated debates, amongst some pretty smart people, to maximize this process.

Edited yesterday at 11:24 AM by Kirby Jackson

[Einstein]

7 hours ago, QCity said:

 

Here's the quote from the Buffalo News a few days ago - "The Bills say that 80% of season ticket holders who visit the stadium experience sign up for new stadium PSLs."

 

All this means is that out of every 10 people that go through the stadium experience, 8 wind up buying PSLs.

 

 

 

Or it means they’re fibbing.

 

The report was they were at 58% (or something like that) a few months ago. 

 

Regardless, it will eventually sell out.

 

8 hours ago, estro613 said:

It's pretty obvious what's going on: 

 

Tickets at the new place are not selling well.  There's a lot of spin and positive PR about how well the sales are going but the stories don't add up.

 

How are 80-90% of STHs in a stadium that seats 70k tripping yet the new stadium that only seats 62k is only 40% sold.

 

 

The easiest way to sell tickets is to tell everyone that “they’re going fast!”

 

Creates demand and makes people think twice about leaving the timeshare meeting without purchasing.

 

And because Pete is not “advertising” (just giving an interview), he is under no obligation to tell the full truth.

[Negan]

I have a feeling a lot of season ticket holders couldn't afford the PSL's at the new stadium for the good seats especially.  I received communication from the Bills about getting season tickets at the new stadium, just because they've noticed I've been to games in the past.  Multiple times over the past couple months a rep has emailed me about interest.

[Gregg]

25 minutes ago, Negan said:

I have a feeling a lot of season ticket holders couldn't afford the PSL's at the new stadium for the good seats especially.  I received communication from the Bills about getting season tickets at the new stadium, just because they've noticed I've been to games in the past.  Multiple times over the past couple months a rep has emailed me about interest.

 

Best thing to do is by individual tickets on a game-by-game basis. You avoid the PSL fee this way, but you can still go to all the games. The only thing is you won't be sitting in the same seats every game like a season ticket holder does, but you will still be at all the games and your wallet won't take that big hit from PSL's.

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, Kirby Jackson said:

So we are 96 pages in and approaching the inevitable outcome?The stadium will be full and all the PSLs sold. That was never the question though. That was always the inevitable result.

 

The questions that interest me are:

- What was their original target revenue from PSLs?

- How did that target move with the increased cost of construction?

- How far from that target are they?

- How many times did they tweak / alter the PSL pricing plan to close that gap?

 

There are more I’m sure. The result was never in doubt. They’ll get there because they will just remain nimble until they do. The much more interesting part is the process. I’d imagine that where they are today is vastly different than when they originally started on the new stadium a couple of years ago. There must have been some pretty heated debates, amongst some pretty smart people, to maximize this process.

 

I'd like to know why non-sth'ers are being given the opportunity to buy before actual season ticket holders? I thought they'd run through the STH list first before going to their season ticket wait-list. Doesn't seem fair. I finally got my call and got two seats but I had to compromise some on what I wanted to get, even though I've been a STH'er for 22 seasons. 😠

Edited yesterday at 01:13 PM by PromoTheRobot

[Kirby Jackson]

1 minute ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

I'd like to know why non-sth'ers are being given the opportunity to buy before actual season ticket holders? I thought they'd run through the STH list first before going to their season ticket wait-list. Doesn't seem fair. I finally for my call and got two seats but I had to compromise some on what I wanted to get, even though I've been a STH'er for 22 seasons. 😠

I didn’t realize that was happening. I was under the impression that they were going through the current folks first? I would have an issue with that too!! The most recent people that I know of that went through April 24th. They are going into their 5th year and sit in 335. I assumed that they were still working through the list but with the end approaching. 

[PromoTheRobot]

7 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I didn’t realize that was happening. I was under the impression that they were going through the current folks first? I would have an issue with that too!! The most recent people that I know of that went through April 24th. They are going into their 5th year and sit in 335. I assumed that they were still working through the list but with the end approaching. 

 

Grant you I'm only going on what I've read in a Facebook group devoted to the PSL sale process. There are people who claim to have give theirs and are not current holders.

[Ned Flanders]

1 hour ago, Gregg said:

 

Best thing to do is by individual tickets on a game-by-game basis. You avoid the PSL fee this way, but you can still go to all the games. The only thing is you won't be sitting in the same seats every game like a season ticket holder does, but you will still be at all the games and your wallet won't take that big hit from PSL's.

Have the Bills actually said that they are holding back some tickets for individual games?  I don't recall ever seeing that.

[Gregg]

Just now, Ned Flanders said:

Have the Bills actually said that they are holding back some tickets for individual games?  I don't recall ever seeing that.

 

I thought they always did that but with the new stadium having less capacity maybe they won't now.

[Virgil]

14 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Grant you I'm only going on what I've read in a Facebook group devoted to the PSL sale process. There are people who claim to have give theirs and are not current holders.

 

From everything I've read in the facebook groups for the new stadium, on STH have been given the option to purchase regular seats.  For the suites, I think those have been offered to the public, because all the STH were offered first and made their decision.  

 

[Mango]

2 hours ago, fasteddie said:

That's not including STH's like me who decided that it was not worth driving hundreds of miles to listen to their dog and pony show.

 

Was there no remote option?

[Kirby Jackson]

15 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Grant you I'm only going on what I've read in a Facebook group devoted to the PSL sale process. There are people who claim to have give theirs and are not current holders.

I’d be shocked if that were happening. They could be situations where people were a part of a group and the whole group isn’t returning. Maybe they made some exceptions. I would be completely shocked if they just randomly called people on the waiting list before finishing with the current people. 

10 minutes ago, Ned Flanders said:

Have the Bills actually said that they are holding back some tickets for individual games?  I don't recall ever seeing that.

 

9 minutes ago, Gregg said:

 

I thought they always did that but with the new stadium having less capacity maybe they won't now.

I highly doubt that they will. What they do have are league holds (networks, player additional tickets, league, opposing team, etc). When those don’t get used they can be resold on a game by game basis. That’s usually the Thursday of a game if there are some. There won’t be an individual game on sale though (at least that would be VERY surprising). The tickets available will be secondary market.

4 minutes ago, Virgil said:

 

From everything I've read in the facebook groups for the new stadium, on STH have been given the option to purchase regular seats.  For the suites, I think those have been offered to the public, because all the STH were offered first and made their decision.  

 

This makes sense

[BarleyNY]

10 hours ago, estro613 said:

It's pretty obvious what's going on: 

 

Tickets at the new place are not selling well.  There's a lot of spin and positive PR about how well the sales are going but the stories don't add up.

 

How are 80-90% of STHs in a stadium that seats 70k tripping yet the new stadium that only seats 62k is only 40% sold.

 

They can't sell the nosebleeds and lower end pricing stadium until they clear most of this middle priced inventory and I think sales @ the current price point are not going well.

 

Typically it'll be easier to sell the premium inventory to those with deeper pockets and the corporate sponsors (which seems to have been the case). On the opposite end you'll be able to move product at the lowest price range. But the middle, like 4-8k for a PSL and a 2-3k annual per ticket price is a heavy price for those considering renewing their 2-4 season tickets. That's currently the inventory they're selling and they've been at it for a long time.

 

Ive personally carried at least 4 season tickets since 2002 and I'm throwing in the towel and I know I'm not the only one who views handing over 20-30k in PSL fees to keep those 4 ticks akin to lighting money on fire.  I just can't wrap my head around that.....and that doesn't include the tickets themselves increasing in price by quite a bit.

 

It sucks that this is what it came to for you. Sorry, man. FWIW I got PSLs once when I lived in another city. Had the spare cash at the time and they were nosebleeds and not too expensive. I learned my lesson. Never again.

The best football money I spend is on the NFL Premium Plus. It lets me watch every game after it’s completed. The condensed games are great. 30-50 minutes. I usually watch two or three on Monday nights instead of MNF. If MNF is a good game I’ll watch it later in the week. Ditto TNF. Plus there’s “coaches film” which is basically the All 22 views. Great deal for $99/year. 

[Mango]

1 hour ago, Gregg said:

 

Best thing to do is by individual tickets on a game-by-game basis. You avoid the PSL fee this way, but you can still go to all the games. The only thing is you won't be sitting in the same seats every game like a season ticket holder does, but you will still be at all the games and your wallet won't take that big hit from PSL's.

 

No. This won't be true for anybody outside of the club seats and premium lower bowl seats. The rest is just plain wrong.

 

Nobody sees face value in the outside market unless you're a season ticket holder. I don't think you understand the current STH discount.

 

I've never once sold any of my ticket in the last 5 years for even close to what my ST cost breaks down to. They always sell for atleast 1.5x. And I would be 3x-ish on games like Baltimore or KC. (I've checked(

 

I missed two games last year, Jacksonville and San Fran. I sold both of those for over $250 and my ST cost breaks down to just under $100 per ticket.

 

If the team tanks post Allen, maybe things will be different. But barring catastrophy I would lose like spend almost my whole PSL for my seats in year 1.

7 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I highly doubt that they will. What they do have are league holds (networks, player additional tickets, league, opposing team, etc). When those don’t get used they can be resold on a game by game basis. That’s usually the Thursday of a game if there are some. There won’t be an individual game on sale though (at least that would be VERY surprising). The tickets available will be secondary market.

 

 

My rep told me that the new stadium won't have any seats owned by vivid, StubHub, game time, etc. that they would be PSL only and any tickets in the secondary market would be resale from PSL holders.

 

It came up because I specifically asked about other events. If we hold Taylor Swift, or Monster Jam, or whatever I wanted to know if I had the option to buy my tickets like you can in Dallas. She told me that I didnt own the seat but PSL holders would get first dibs before public release. To which I kicked back about stub hub etc. and she said they weren't allowed to purchase.

[Kirby Jackson]

9 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

No. This won't be true for anybody outside of the club seats and premium lower bowl seats. The rest is just plain wrong.

 

Nobody sees face value in the outside market unless you're a season ticket holder. I don't think you understand the current STH discount.

 

I've never once sold any of my ticket in the last 5 years for even close to what my ST cost breaks down to. They always sell for atleast 1.5x. And I would be 3x-ish on games like Baltimore or KC. (I've checked(

 

I missed two games last year, Jacksonville and San Fran. I sold both of those for over $250 and my ST cost breaks down to just under $100 per ticket.

 

If the team tanks post Allen, maybe things will be different. But barring catastrophy I would lose like spend almost my whole PSL for my seats in year 1.

 

My rep told me that the new stadium won't have any seats owned by vivid, StubHub, game time, etc. that they would be PSL only and any tickets in the secondary market would be resale from PSL holders.

 

It came up because I specifically asked about other events. If we hold Taylor Swift, or Monster Jam, or whatever I wanted to know if I had the option to buy my tickets like you can in Dallas. She told me that I didnt own the seat but PSL holders would get first dibs before public release. To which I kicked back about stub hub etc. and she said they weren't allowed to purchase.

That’s a 1/2 truth. The Bills have some large ticket broker partners (as all teams do). They have some people that own hundreds and maybe even thousand(s). I’m confident that they aren’t kicking those partners out. It “technically” isn’t StubHub but there will be a few thousand tickets owned by people that do nothing but resell. That’s their business. 

[estro613]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

I'd like to know why non-sth'ers are being given the opportunity to buy before actual season ticket holders? I thought they'd run through the STH list first before going to their season ticket wait-list. Doesn't seem fair. I finally got my call and got two seats but I had to compromise some on what I wanted to get, even though I've been a STH'er for 22 seasons. 😠

Id think it's because they're prioritizing selling inventory in more expensive sections before opening up cheaper sections over seniority of their season ticket holder base. 

 

It's tough to sell the PSL's in the 5k-10k per seat range if you currently have ones available in the 3-4k range. 

 

They may have 10-15k fans that would be ready to put down their deposit on seats that come with a 2.5k PSL fee, but the team knows once those go for sale it'll be even harder to sell the more expensive PSLs. I kind of think that's the holding pattern they're currently in.

 

Most of the premium inventory has sold. They're banking that the lower end inventory will move a lot quicker when it's finally made available for sale (probably later this year for early '26)......but in the meantime they probably have a surplus of middle priced seating that's not moving as well as they thought 

 

I agree, it all will eventually sell, it'll just become a moving target as to how the prices need to fluctuate to meet the demand.  There's no denying though if there was a ton of demand the new stadium would already be sold out. The fact they still have nearly 60% of the new stadium seats to sell shows there's a gap between what they're asking and what paying customers are willing to fork over.