NFL

OWNERS SAY NEW STADIUM WORTH PRICE

It’s been 13 months since ground was broken on the future home of the Giants and Jets. Now 60 percent complete, Stadium CEO Mark Lamping describes it aptly:

“Everything’s about double,” Lamping said today while leading the press on a 90-minute walking tour.

For every fan who frequents the current stadium, they hope that doesn’t apply to ticket prices.

With the sale of personal seat licenses (PSLs) already started prior to the building’s first season in 2010, many fans are afraid they are going to be priced out of the new stadium. Yet both team owners are backing the fact that the $1.6 billion project will be worth any ticket price.

“Every time I visit the stadium, I’m in awe of what has been accomplished and how different it is from the stadium we played in for 30-40 years,” Jets principal owner Woody Johnson said. “It’s going to be an amazing experience. The suite owner will see it from one vantage point and the PSL owner and everyone else will see it from another.”

That “everyone else” is where the concern lies. With PSL prices averaging about $5,000 per seat (prior to the purchase of the tickets), the average fan – regardless if they want to purchase a PSL, a single season-ticket package or a single-game ticket – may be hard-pressed to afford a seat.

“That’s something that we’re concerned about and we’re sensitive to,” Giants principal owner John Mara said. “That’s why we try to come up with as many pricing options as possible and try to be flexible and work with people with payment a schedule.”

A payment schedule seems to be both owners’ way of making the skyrocketing prices seem reasonable. The bottom line for them is not losing the fan base, and they think that has been accomplished.

“I think that in the end we’re going to be successful in keeping just about everybody in the new building,” Mara said. “That was one of our goals going into this process and that is going to be a goal we are going to achieve.”

Johnson said, “Our fans have spoken – some of them already – and they’re going to come to the games.”

The Jets have auctioned some PSLs, and Johnson was making assumptions off research done by the team.

“With the financing that’s been made available, it really gives everybody the ability to buy a PSL in [the new] building,” he said.

The building will be quite an upgrade from the current one, built in 1976. The square footage will increase from 900,000 to 2,030,00. The in-stadium video displays will increase from two screens at 22 feet x 58 feet to four high-definition screens at 30 feet x 110 feet. The average concourse width will increase from 22 feet to 40 feet, the bathrooms fixtures will increase from 913 to 1,287, and the concession stands will increase from 260 to 800.

“John and I both want to maintain our fans that were in this building supporting our teams to have a chance to purchase [seats] in the new stadium,” Johnson said. “I think that’s going to be the case.”