Jets owner Johnson thrilled with PSL auctionBY NEIL BEST | neil.best@newsday.com October 29, 2008 On the morning after the Jets' unprecedented, nine-day auction of personal seat licenses, owner Woody Johnson said the event "went extremely, extremely well - unbelievable, as a matter of fact." The Jets said they sold 620 PSLs of the 2,000 or so in their elite "Coaches Club," at an average price of about $26,000 - for a gross of around $16 million. That includes the pair that sold for $200,000 apiece at a private auction held four days before the public portion. The lowest price among the 620 was $10,500. The Jets and StubHub, which conducted the online auction, admitted they were in uncharted territory, and thus made no apologies for a major course adjustment during the bidding. After deciding the number of auctions was overwhelming and confusing fans, the team and site cut back drastically on inventory. Doing so also acted as a brake on the potential for prices slipping. Johnson said having multiple auctions close at the same time "made no sense," as did having auctions close during working hours. Instead, the streamlined offerings closed mostly during evenings. The team likely will assign fixed prices to the PSLs not auctioned off, but has not yet determined what the price or prices will be. PSLs for seats comparable to those in the Coaches Club on the opposite side of the field have been set at $25,000. Might the Jets have to drop prices on those to avoid having fans in the Coaches Club paying less than those with fewer amenities opposite them? The Jets say they will not, that the nature of auctions is prices will be less uniform than in a fixed sale. Thus some Coaches Club PSL owners paid more than $50,000 a seat, some less than $15,000. "No one knew precisely what would happen," Johnson said. "It kind of goes along with what the Jets are trying to do now. We have a history of taking risks, calculated risks." Johnson said the auction "validates the PSL concept, validates the value and validated this particular product, which is amazing." Did the state of the economy act as a drag on prices? Johnson said PSL buyers "looked past this valley and into the future." Asked about speculation the Brett Favre trade partly was to promote PSL sales, Johnson said, "I can tell you having gone through the process to get Brett Favre, that's not something that ever entered my personal brain pattern." He added, "Brett's doing great." The Giants also are using PSLs to help finance the stadium they and the Jets will jointly own, with every seat assigned a fixed price, up to $20,000. Many fans of both teams have complained publicly and bitterly about PSLs, but Johnson said he mostly has gotten positive feedback. Eric Bradlow, a professor of marketing, statistics and education at the Wharton School, said the Jets contacted him early in the process for advice. One of his suggestions was to cut the supply. "I think they weren't upset at the bids that came in," he said, "but I think they were a little surprised that the number of interested parties was less than they had hoped for . . . It does not take a PhD to figure it out: Cut the supply." BIG BUCKS $16 million Total price of 620 PSLs auctioned by Jets $200,000 Highest price for a PSL (at private auction) $26,000 Approximate winning average bid $25,000 Highest non-auctioned price for PSL $20,000 Giants' PSL price for comparable seat $10,500 Lowest winning bid $700 Price winning bidders have to pay for each Jets game ticket
The whole auction thing seems like a CYA move on the part of the Jets. Like, they want to charge a lot, but they don't want to admit it. So deny responsibility through an auction. What kills me about how expensive tickets are is that even with all that, the stands are still filled with muscled up young men trying to start fights with pot bellied middle aged men. Get an effing job you punk and see how your body looks then.
This article talks of some missteps by the Jets in selling the licenses. I wonder if there's a chance that they'll lower any of the other licenses, or maybe the seat prices? I know I'm probably smoking crack with that hope, but if not, I definitely think there will be many empties and many out of work scalpers (who's going to sell their $400+ seat for $20 in the lot, which is where demand will likely be?). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/s...cp=1&sq=jets woody johnson&st=cse&oref=slogin
I get it. The "Farve" maneuver only produced 620 seats and that's a plus. I imagine without Farve, they would have only sold 310????
The Jets quickly reduce the number available for auction so they could claim victory. In fact, if all 2000 were left on the market, the average price per PSL would have fallen like a rock. The reduction in the seats avaiable was a pure CYA move.
Thrilled??????? Sure you are, and I am thrilled at the performance of my GE stock this year. Face it Woody this expirement FAILED. Only 31 percent of the seats were sold, and all but a few met or exceeded expectations. Had it not been for a wreckless few spending like drunken sailors your average price would have been much lower. Panic set in, the remaining seats were pulled in fear, the average price was heading for the basement. The fans have spoken. Now that the very few wealthy have been consumed by your scam what do you do now? Absurd PSL pricing! Unreal $700 ticket pricing! Mediocre football! How do you sleep now? I am sure these seats won't go empty at first, you will give them away to your business contacts and use it as a write off. But how long will it be until we see the "Coaches Club" barren. Sad, very sad for you.
