PSL Pricing/Seat Selection Discussion

[Kirby Jackson]

2 hours ago, SoMAn said:

I'm curious as to how the teams know if you're selling.

The last time I attended a game, printed tickets were still being issued, so I'm not familiar with some of the technological changes and protocol since then.

Do the teams have some level of oversight with digital tickets when they're transferred to another party? 

 

 

They monitor on ticket exchange as well as other popular sites. It’s really easy (if they care). It is rare that they would care if someone is selling 2 or 4 to a game. That’s why they have those platforms. I think that the reseller issue is a MUCH bigger issue for concerts and other 1 off events. They artificially change the market and limit demand so much.

 

[Kirby Jackson]

55 minutes ago, 34-78-83 said:

I asked about that in my visit and was advised that there is a hard limit now (going forward at the new stadium) on any one entity having over a certain amount of tickets, that will prevent much of that re-seller activity, and that they scour accounts for similarities of contacts, titles or names, phone numbers, etc. Maybe my rep was lying to my face about that, idk, but for what it's worth...

That’s probably true. They’ve certainly already cut the deals with the parties that they’ve worked with for a long time. They probably have 8-10 partners that they’re working with and have limited the number of total seats between them. I have a good friend that works for a company that’s the largest reseller on the college side. I’ll try to get some info from him as to how it’s being handled. On the college side they just make giant donations to the athletic department and then buy from there. It’s kind of PSLish

[JakeFrommStateFarm]

1 hour ago, Just Jack said:

 

Part of it maybe that they can see how many times you list your seats on TM Ticket Exchange. 

That's right.

 

They monitor stub hub or ticket master and they can see the seats for sale and map it back to the season ticket holder.

 

Then you're busted

[eball]

1 hour ago, JakeFrommStateFarm said:

That's right.

 

They monitor stub hub or ticket master and they can see the seats for sale and map it back to the season ticket holder.

 

Then you're busted

 

You’re acting as if you know this actually occurs.  From what I gather, you’re just surmising.

 

I think it’s highly unlikely the Bills (or any other team) are going to be monitoring and taking away season tickets from somebody who owns two seats, goes to a couple of games, and sells the rest.

 

[Einstein]

18 hours ago, eball said:

 

You’re acting as if you know this actually occurs.  From what I gather, you’re just surmising.

 

I think it’s highly unlikely the Bills (or any other team) are going to be monitoring and taking away season tickets from somebody who owns two seats, goes to a couple of games, and sells the rest.

 

 

No this is a fact. They monitor ticketmaster.

[PromoTheRobot]

29 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

No this is a fact. They monitor ticketmaster.

Especially since teams get a cut of ticket resale revenues.

Edited July 10 by PromoTheRobot

[eball]

31 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

No this is a fact. They monitor ticketmaster.

 

Monitoring and taking away season tickets...it goes hand in hand.  I don't doubt they know what's going on with TM.  I still think it's extremely unlikely the Bills will be targeting ST holders of a couple of seats who sell 2/3 of them because they live out of state.

 

 

Edited July 10 by eball

[Buffalo716]

20 hours ago, eball said:

 

You’re acting as if you know this actually occurs.  From what I gather, you’re just surmising.

 

I think it’s highly unlikely the Bills (or any other team) are going to be monitoring and taking away season tickets from somebody who owns two seats, goes to a couple of games, and sells the rest.

 

Some NFL teams absolutely flag season ticket holders who sell all their tickets 

 

The Packers have definitely axed people for selling all their tickets

 

Keyword.. all

 

 

Edited July 10 by Buffalo716

[Ballsy]

How can you get axed for selling tickets if you bought a PSL?  The whole point of the PSL is that you have paid for the right to buy season tickets and no one else can buy season tickets for that seat. There is nothing in the contract that says you can't resell them.  You can legally resell every single ticket and there's nothing the Bills can do about it once you bought the PSL.  Purchasing the PSL guarantees you the right to buy those tickets.  That being said, if you stop buying those season tickets, you forfeit that right in the future.

[Kirby Jackson]

18 hours ago, eball said:

 

Monitoring and taking away season tickets...it goes hand in hand.  I don't doubt they know what's going on with TM.  I still think it's extremely unlikely the Bills will be targeting ST holders of a couple of seats who sell 2/3 of them because they live out of state.

 

 

Exactly. The teams are in a sold out situation. They really don’t care about people offloading some games. Ticketexchange, is a team sponsored, AND REVENUE SHARED, source. Teams literally get a cut of seats transacted on there. Lol, they aren’t staffed to have people scouring the internet in search of someone that sold a pair of seats 4 times in a year. 🤣🤣 

 

In certain situations there may be teams that try to curtail people buying only to resell. That’s so much less common in 2025 than people think. That is more for one-off events like the Masters or a Taylor Swift concert. In those instances they really control who can go.
 

One of the the things that fans probably don’t want to hear is that teams don’t care if access is extremely limited to big games. My cousin was complaining the other day because he wants to go to the Chiefs game but it’s too expensive. I said, “go to the Saints game or Bucs game.” He said, “well I don’t want to go to those as much.” No kidding. That’s why the tickets are more affordable for those games.
 

Teams would probably crack down more on reselling if the pricing made it so that people could never go. They aren’t going to crack down because people can never go to see KC. They would say, “there are plenty of other games to pick from.” This is a bigger deal in other sports (think Yankees are in town, or the Leafs are playing in Buffalo, or the Lakers in MSG). The teams would say, “the benefit of committing to the season is that you ensure yourself the KC game at face value.” That’s literally the sales pitch. The dirty little secret is that they LOVE the fact that people can’t get into the best games for a reasonable price. That’s how they sell packages and season tickets. 

Edited July 11 by Kirby Jackson

[NoSaint]

17 hours ago, eball said:

 

Monitoring and taking away season tickets...it goes hand in hand.  I don't doubt they know what's going on with TM.  I still think it's extremely unlikely the Bills will be targeting ST holders of a couple of seats who sell 2/3 of them because they live out of state.

 

 

I don’t know what the threshold will be but would not be shocked if selling 6 out of 8 regular season games starts discussions 

[eball]

32 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

I don’t know what the threshold will be but would not be shocked if selling 6 out of 8 regular season games starts discussions 

 

The key question here is…why?  How are the Bills benefitting from doing so?

 

 

[NoSaint]

3 minutes ago, eball said:

 

The key question here is…why?  How are the Bills benefitting from doing so?

 

 

How is Green Bay? How is Seattle? The lions? 

 

I saw a bunch of articles this offseason without looking for them. It’s common place in high demand markets that aren’t begging to fill seats. 
 

I don’t think teams like the optics of a huge number of visiting fans, fans don’t like waitlists while resellers profit… I’d venture the guess that the long term attend every game seat is also much more pleasant to police on game day than is a rotating cast. 

 

[Ballsy]

2 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

How is Green Bay? How is Seattle? The lions? 

 

I saw a bunch of articles this offseason without looking for them. It’s common place in high demand markets that aren’t begging to fill seats. 
 

I don’t think teams like the optics of a huge number of visiting fans, fans don’t like waitlists while resellers profit… I’d venture the guess that the long term attend every game seat is also much more pleasant to police on game day than is a rotating cast. 

 

Sending threatening letters to season ticket holders about reselling tickets is not the same as preventing someone who paid a PSL from exercising their right to buy them.  This is just saber rattling by the teams for the (valid) reasons you suggested - retaining home field advantage, etc. 

I think for teams where the season ticket holder bought a PSL, this is all bluster on the part of the team.  I would need to see some proof with actual season ticket holders names to believe they are yanking tickets from someone who bought a PSL and resold tickets.  
 

[BarleyNY]

10 hours ago, Ballsy said:

How can you get axed for selling tickets if you bought a PSL?  The whole point of the PSL is that you have paid for the right to buy season tickets and no one else can buy season tickets for that seat. There is nothing in the contract that says you can't resell them.  You can legally resell every single ticket and there's nothing the Bills can do about it once you bought the PSL.  Purchasing the PSL guarantees you the right to buy those tickets.  That being said, if you stop buying those season tickets, you forfeit that right in the future.

I don’t know for a fact, but I would be very surprised if there isn’t a clause in the PSL contracts about this. 

[GottaRun]

FYI - I sit lower bowl near the 30 and was offered seats for $8K PSL, then a few weeks later I was offered seats for a $6K PSL.  I declined both and was told I would not be contacted until everyone else had been offered the seats close to the sections they currently sit. 

On a whim I called my rep the other day and asked if there were any singles or doubles in upper sections that have already been offered for sale and passed over, and there were, so I was able to pick up a seat in the section I originally wanted when this all started and at a price I can live with.   Had to switch to the visiting side, but I can live with that.  

[Mr Info]

8 hours ago, BarleyNY said:

I don’t know for a fact, but I would be very surprised if there isn’t a clause in the PSL contracts about this. 

I just reviewed my PSL Contract and nothing regarding the resale of tix. There is language about the resale of PSLs.

i spoke with the reps at my PSL sale event and specifically asked about ticket resale and they said no restrictions.

[Ballsy]

9 hours ago, BarleyNY said:

I don’t know for a fact, but I would be very surprised if there isn’t a clause in the PSL contracts about this. 

Why would you be surprised?  When you buy a PSL you are essentially buying the exclusive rights to purchase the season tickets for those seats.  Why would anyone spend between $500 - and $50K for a PSL if the team could decide in year 2 to NOT allow them to buy the tickets and instead the team could choose to sell them to someone else?

For all the bitching about PSLs around here, they do guarantee the season ticket holder the exclusive right to renew.  The team can't refuse to renew your seats for anything that isn't in the PSL contract.  Now there may be a clause about bad behavior or other things, but apparently not for resell:

 

1 hour ago, Mr Info said:

I just reviewed my PSL Contract and nothing regarding the resale of tix. There is language about the resale of PSLs.

i spoke with the reps at my PSL sale event and specifically asked about ticket resale and they said no restrictions.

Unlimited Resale.  Now, the Bills might send out threatening letters, but that is just saber rattling....  Once the PSL contract is executed, the team cannot refuse to renew your tickets even if you resell every ticket for 30 years.

[Einstein]

1 hour ago, Mr Info said:

I just reviewed my PSL Contract and nothing regarding the resale of tix. There is language about the resale of PSLs.

i spoke with the reps at my PSL sale event and specifically asked about ticket resale and they said no restrictions.

"the Buffalo Bills do not restrict the transfer or resale of tickets and do not charge fees for the same. If a consumer wishes to resell its tickets outside of the digital ticketing platform environment, we provide a paper ticket to the consumer upon their request at no additional charge" 

NYS Senate Information Testimony

[Cheektowaga Chad]

So during my meeting I kind of asked /skirted around the topic about selling all your tickets

 

Basically once you buy the PSL, the team doesn't care what you do, the stadium is going to be 100% season ticket holders, no single game tickets expected. So the team will get the all games paid for

 

A lot of the getting rid of season ticket holders that sell is for two reasons, you are under cutting the team to sell your ticket and the team themselves take the loss on unsold single game tickets or overly cheap tickets or there is a massive wait list for season tickets (green bay) and that's just doing right by the general fan 

 

So you need a PSL to purchase seasons. Therefore the PSL market place will replace any wait list