AJC: Falcons forcing fans to purchase PSLs; no single game tickets will be sold

It has turned into the cost of doing business. Every new stadium has all the bells and whistles, but typically at a substantial cost to local taxpayers and fans through PSLs. Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution chides the team for celebrating their cheap concession prices while asking fans to cough a premium of up to $45,000 per seat.

There will be no sale of single-game tickets. This has been the Falcons’ public stance all along, but it never seemed realistic until now. They’ve sold approximately 55,000 of 61,000 available PSLs and they’re confident the final 6,000 will go in the next eight weeks.

I never realized the Falcons would not sell single game tickets. Of course, sales had seemed a little slow before the team put together an offensive stretch for the record books. The sale of PSLs in the cheap seats have been going a little slowly, but it appears they are in the home stretch. It feels like this plan will push the seats to more corporate clients, while fans are stuck at home.

Blank needs to recoup his investment in the $1.5 billion stadium. The PSL sales amount to more than $250 million. This will be on top of the $200 million for construction costs he received from an Atlanta hotel-motel tax. . . . There is expected to be another several hundred million dollars in tax money that will be used to service the debt over 30 years, and pay for maintenance and stadium operations. It’s also worth noting that while this technically is a public facility, Blank will receive all revenue from events in the stadium, beyond Falcons and Atlanta United games.

So let’s go easy on applause for $3 peanuts.

Season tickets were already a premium purchase for most fans. While those who can still afford to attend the games may be happy to secure a spot in the new stadium, Schultz says there are many fans out there who will be watching at home for the first time in years.