The Broncos are PSL’ing away their most loyal fans

Reacting to PSLs ‘likely’ coming to Broncos Country

A prediction I made over one year ago is coming true, and it’s being received by Broncos Country as poorly as you’d expected. RIP Broncos Season Tickets, killed by greedy ownership.

For those who don’t know, PSL is not just a tasty fall drink, but also stands for “Personal (or Premium) Seat License. It’s the financing model that 21 NFL teams have used to gouge their fans under the guise of financing stadium construction. PSLs force fans to shell out thousands (and in many cases, tens of thousands) of dollars for the privilege of buying season tickets. The PSL does not prorate or discount what a holder pays each season (and in fact, is tacked on as a yearly fee for fans on a payment plan). Some PSL’s enable fans some priority in requesting tickets for concerts and stadium events, as if you haven’t blown out your live events budget.

Before I go further, I should state that I’m not in favor of tax-funded stadiums. I don’t think that “PSLs vs. tax funding” is a binary for stadium financing, nor do I think a new Broncos stadium is necessary. Empower Field has been fine, and ownership has not made a compelling case to the fanbase on why a 25-year-old stadium is now outdated. However, the Walton-Penner group owns the team and, of course, is enabled to make any decisions, but as they signal that PSLs are on the horizon, it’s disrespectful to expect the loyal Broncos fans to blindly shell out more hard-earned money.

The reality is that the free market will persevere. Broncos ownership sees the 20,000+ season ticket waiting list and assumes they can callously shed fans like me who can’t afford “second-mortgage” money to keep going to Broncos games. They’re going to find, however, that the majority of fans on that waiting list will also balk at those prices, leaving only resellers who will happily offer the tickets to the highest bidder (and those fans will likely not be wearing orange and blue). The franchise that celebrates its incredible home field atmosphere will find that ownership traded it away for thirty pieces of silver, especially when they can afford it themselves. In this situation, I’m reminded of this Simpsons clip where Bill Gates says, “I didn’t get rich by writing a lot of checks”.

I get that these are first-world problems, and that being able to go to Broncos games for decades has been a true blessing. I’m lucky to be faced with this scenario. At the same time, it doesn’t mean that season ticket holders deserve to be treated like this. In all the years I’ve had Broncos tickets, I have never sold my tickets for a profit.

Since this “stadium” discussion started, I saw the writing on the wall that my season ticket stewardship has been on borrowed time; it’s just sad to see a firm expiration date emerge. I’ll continue to make the most of the opportunities that I have, cherishing the memories we’ve made in the South Stands.