Catonsville retiree Jim Daly considered it galling to have to shell out a combined $2,800 for six "personal seat licenses" for the right to buy Ravens season tickets before the team moved to its new stadium in 1998.
"I thought it was a total rip-off," said the devout fan, whose truck is painted Ravens purple.
But Daly shifted his position after he sold the seat licenses recently, turning his investment into $13,000 - a 464 percent profit.
Daly joined many other fans who are making money on their initial football investments. PSLs, which helped the Ravens recoup millions of dollars in relocation costs from their 1996 move from Cleveland, are now yielding windfalls for hundreds of season-ticket holders who bought in early. Many never imagined their allegiance to a National Football League team would literally pay off in profits.
"Everybody got a little bit better Christmas present last year," said Daly, 62.
PSLs are akin to an initiation fee. They are owned by fans, not the team, provided that the seats are renewed each season. Some fans - such as Pat Smart, from Cecil County - have taken to buying and selling Ravens and other teams' PSLs the way other people trade stocks.
Smart, 50, said he has invested about $100,000 in Ravens seat licenses and another $100,000 in Philadelphia Eagles PSLs. Even as business was down 50 percent last year in his Philadelphia-based roofing company due to the slumping economy, he said, he cleared about $40,000 from a side business he and his wife established with another couple a few years ago to manage their NFL investments.
"That's not bad for a part-time job," said Smart, who says he attends an NFL game almost every football-season weekend.
It didn't hurt that the Ravens went 11-5 last season and won two playoff games. Experts say the PSL market is driven largely by team performance and outlook, as well as the local economy.
"People are tired of investing in the stock market where they don't understand the companies or the businesses," said Kyle Burks, president of STR Marketplace, a Houston-based firm that contracts with the Ravens to coordinate the sales online. "My joke is people in Baltimore could more easily rattle off the starting lineup for the Ravens than the board of directors for GE."
Many fans are more casual PSL market speculators than Smart. With two club-level PSLs to sell, Alice Edwards, a school bus contractor from Forest Hill, regularly researched prices and logged onto the online marketplace looking for deals.
