Vegas stadium club seat pricing revealed, and they are far from affordable

Did you put down a $100 security deposit for the chance to buy PSL’s for the Raiders shiny new stadium? If you did, be ready for some sticker shock by the time the tickets are officially offered to you. Right now the Raiders have only been selling “VVIP” and Club seats but the cost of them is more than many people make in an entire year’s salary.

The price ranges from $20,000 all the way up to $75,000 for the PSL’s, plus the cost of the season tickets themselves. Ouch! We know this thanks to the Las Vegas Review-Journal who broke the news on the pricing details that the Raiders hadn’t been willing to release yet. The price tag hasn’t dampened sales though, they have already sold so many that people’s meetings to finalize purchases are being canceled.

As for the regular seat prices, they have not been announced or sold yet but these premium prices do not bold well for the average Joe being able to afford them. It is important to note that club seat prices are always much more expensive than regular seat prices, but still these numbers are pretty jaw dropping for the average Raiders fan’s pocket book.

The VVIP seats are the most expensive with the $75k PSL price, then the next level down for the top level of Club Seats are $35k, and the lowest level of pricing for Club seats are $20k. PSL’s are a major part of how Mark Davis and the Raiders are funding their share of the stadium build. It’s being estimated by the Las Vegas Review-Journal the roughly 8,000 club seats and VIPP seats will generate $160M towards the stadium build costs.

Using PSL’s has been the norm among stadium financing tactics, both the Vikings and the Falcons used similar licensing sales to help them fund their new stadiums as well. The Falcons last year announced their PSL structures ranged from $500-$45,000, and the Vikings version of PSL’s called “stadium-builder licenses” were quite a bit more affordable ranging from $500-$9,500 per seat. The season ticket prices are on top of that, going for between $50-$400 for the Vikings per game, and $55-$385 per game for the Falcons.

The Raiders high price of $75k for the VVIP PSL price is considerably higher than even the Falcons high PSL price of $45K but less than the highest PSL for the 49ers new stadium in Santa Clara whose prices ranged from $2,000 to $80,000. It is interesting to note that both the Vikings and Falcons priced their lowest PSL at just $500 for their lowest valued seat, though the Raiders pricing more closely mirrors the 49ers pricing which had a low price of $2,000.

There is some good news, they will allow special financing options for the PSL’s that allow them to be paid over several years instead of all at once. That requires a 20% down payment for the first year, and 10% for each year after that ending in 2024, with a 6% interest starting to accrue in 2019. The Las Vegas Review-Journal included an example showing how the financing works.

“Under a pricing calculation shared with the Review-Journal by a fan who plans to buy two seats, the full PSL and ticket price calculation is explained:

— The buyer is planning to acquire club seats in the lowest price level. Under the agreement, 20 percent of the $40,000 PSL charge — in this case, $8,000 — is due at the signing of the agreement. Another 10 percent, or $4,000, is due in 2019.

— A 6 percent interest rate for financing begins to accrue on March 2, 2019, so payments from 2020 to 2024 are $6,647 each year.

— The season ticket prices are $7,000 and are due in 2020.

— That means the annual cost of the PSL installment plus the season ticket charge is $13,647 from the time of purchase through 2024.”

One of the biggest fears of this move is that they will price regular Raiders fans out of attending games, so far that fear appears justified. One thing is certain, if you want to experience season tickets in Las Vegas it’s going to be an expensive investment. It’s a lot more expensive than the $250-$4000 PSL’s that Oakland sold in 1995 when the team moved back from LA anyway.

Even considering inflation, the most expensive PSL’s are almost 20x more expensive now. The Vegas high rollers can afford it, but the every day fan certainly can’t. Hopefully the regular seats will provide some relief, the Vegas stadium will not feel like home without the black hole fans being there. So far the only black hole we are seeing is the one consuming money from the high rollers.