CLEVELAND — Get ready for some changes to how season tickets for Browns games are sold once the team moves to its new stadium in Brook Park.
In an email sent to season ticket holders this week, the Browns announced that anyone who owns a personal seat license, or PSL, at the existing stadium will get a discount on a new one in Brook Park.
Personal seat licenses are a money-raising concept popularized in the 1990s — and, since then, used across the NFL to help fund stadium projects.
Fans pay a one-time fee to get the right to pay for something else: Season tickets for a particular seat, year after year.
At the new stadium, a PSL will be required for every seat, according to information the Browns shared with season ticket holders this week. And anyone who has a PSL now will have to buy a new one.
The Browns stopped selling PSLs at the existing stadium in 2013, enabling fans to buy season tickets without paying a one-time fee to lock in their seats. But many people hung onto their PSLs, or sold them over the years to family members, friends and other fans.
Now the Browns are offering existing seat-license holders a credit — based on the location of their current seats and the 2013 value of their PSLs.
The credits will range from $375 to $2,100, based on a map of 2013 pricing provided by the Browns. They can only be applied to the cost of a new PSL.
The new Brook Park stadium will have 67,500 seats, with room for 2,500 standing-room-only tickets for Browns games. That means you'll have a slim chance at getting into a game without season tickets. And unless you're in a suite or high-end group seating, you won't get season tickets without a PSL.
CLICK HERE for more information from the Browns on PSLs.
It's still unclear how much the Browns will charge for seat licenses in Brook Park.
In a survey the team sent to season ticket holders last fall, potential PSL pricing ranged from $550 to $193,650 a seat.
That does not include the annual cost of season tickets.
The survey noted those numbers were for research purposes and weren't final.
Fan reaction
Those possible prices — and the prospect of a seat-license requirement in the Dawg Pound for the first time — have some fans worried about being priced out. News 5's Michelle Jarboe spoke to one such fan in December.
WATCH:
RELATED: Longtime Browns fans outraged by possible seat-license pricing in Brook Park
News 5's John Kosich spoke with other fans Tuesday about current PSL owners getting a credit and having to hold a PSL for the new stadium.
"It's good, they should," said longtime season ticket holder Jim Sammon, who bought his PSL's in 1999. While he appreciates the gesture, he's not sure how much it will lessen the blow of the new PSLs.
"I can't remember if I paid $1,250 or $1,500 back in '99. So they're going to give me that credit toward, I think it's $29,850, something like that," longtime season ticket holder Jim Sammon told Kosich.
Sammon's hefty price tag stems from his family's being season ticket holders since day one, as in 1946, when his grandfather — who worked in the railyards — bought two season tickets for himself and his son, Jim's Dad.
"He came home with tickets for sonny to this new venture and they didn't have, they didn't have any money," he said.
The tickets were passed on to Jim's father and then to Jim, who paid for the PSLs in 1999 and took his infant son to the very first open practice at the stadium that year. A generational tradition, he said that will likely end when the Browns leave the lakefront.
"I certainly don't think I'm going to renew mine. At that price, no way, not a chance," Sammon said.
A similar dilemma is shared by Browns super fan Gus Angelone, better known as Pumpkinhead.
"I'm excited for the dome, but I just feel like among a lot of other people who are going to be priced out," Angelone said to Kosich.
He shared the credit offer on his Facebook page and heard from fans in a similar boat. And while he appreciates the credit, he knows it won't go far enough as he thinks he'll be looking at PSLs of around $7,000 a seat for his four, plus, of course, the cost of the tickets themselves.
"I'm looking at upwards towards the high $40,000s almost $50,000 for the first season. So I mean you guys are winning three to five games a year. I mean there's a lot of things I can do with $50,000."
Jim Sammon agrees. "Other than my mortgage what the heck does anyone spend $25,000 on. A car? A mortgage?"
The Browns issued the following statement about PSLs:
“As part of our renewal communication with season ticket members, we are ensuring that every season ticket member that is a PSL holder understands they will receive a credit towards any PSL seating option in the new stadium. PSL pricing has not been finalized yet but there will be a PSL program as part of the new stadium. We greatly appreciate our fans’ loyalty and commitment to our team and we value having as many of our longtime fans continue with us as we move forward in an exciting new chapter of Cleveland Browns football with Coach Monken at the helm and with the new Huntington Bank Field enclosed stadium on the horizon. We continue to remain focused on building a consistently winning football team, making sure we take care of our fans and giving back to our community.”
