Seat Licenses

Signaling unhappiness with the stadium deal between the state and Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell, members of a key legislative committee yesterday took aim at the $80 million to be generated for Mr. Modell by the sale of "personal seat licenses."Several members of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee took turns criticizing the seat license arrangement, saying either the fees should be made more affordable or that some proceeds should help pay for the stadium."I think the PSLs are an absolute rip-off," said Sen. John A. Cade, an Anne Arundel Republican and a stadium supporter.

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.

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.

Stocks? Forget 'em. Bonds? Returns too low. Permanent seat licenses? Now you're talking. The licenses that the Ravens and some other National Football League teams require fans to purchase to buy season tickets - often to help pay for stadium construction or renovation - have gone from being what many regarded as an extortionary annoyance to what some now consider a dandy investment. For instance, when the Ravens' stadium opened in 1998, a permanent seat license ranged from $250 to $3,000, depending on the location of the seat covered by the license.

Stocks? Forget 'em. Bonds? Returns too low. Permanent seat licenses? Now you're talking. The licenses that the Ravens and some other National Football League teams require fans to purchase to buy season tickets - often to help pay for stadium construction or renovation - have gone from being what many regarded as an extortionary annoyance to what some now consider a dandy investment. For instance, when the Ravens' stadium opened in 1998, a permanent seat license ranged from $250 to $3,000, depending on the location of the seat covered by the license.

The biggest challenge the Ravens will face in selling nearly $70 million worth of seat licenses isn't the price or the newness of the concept.It's that the team is here.The Ravens will announce today the first details of their plan to have fans help pay for the team's move from Cleveland to Baltimore by buying "permanent seat licenses." The licenses will be required before most fans can buy a season ticket.But the licenses are controversial and some cities are more receptive than others. Sports-hungry fans in Nashville, St. Louis and Charlotte gobbled them up while their counterparts in Oakland and Tampa responded with a collective yawn.

The decision of the Ravens to seek less money through permanent seat licenses than originally envisioned will save fans money but will cost the Maryland Stadium Authority $5 million it was counting on to help build the stadium.The team's agreement with the state limited the amount of money that could be raised through seat licenses to $80 million, and specified that the last $5 million would go toward the cost of building the $200 million stadium project.Under the plan outlined yesterday, the Ravens will raise a maximum of $68 million in seat licenses and will not have to pay any of it to the stadium authority.

If you camped out but still didn't get the seats you wanted for Ravens games when they went on sale over the weekend, hold on. More may become available in the fall.The team started selling single-game tickets for the regular season over the weekend, and moved more than 15,000 of the 48,000 put up for sale for the final seven home games of the season. (The home opener on Sept. 6 against Pittsburgh had been sold out by lottery.)Those tickets represent the 6,000 per game that Ravens officials have said they will set aside for fans who don't want to buy season tickets and the required permanent seat licenses.

An official representing the Charlotte, N.C., bid to get an NFL expansion team said yesterday that the group has sold out its 8,314 club seats.Dan Lohwasser of Muhleman Marketing Inc., said Charlotte has met the requirements of the NFL by selling all its club seats and luxury suites (102). Lohwasser also said there has been an order of 41,632 for permanent seat licenses, which fans are required to purchase to buy tickets. Funds from the permanent seat licenses would fund the team's new stadium.

The count is now official: the new Ravens stadium has 69,426 seats.That is roughly 1,000 more than the designers set out to build, but such are the vagaries of stadium building. A few wide expansion joints here, a mismeasured beam there and, before you know it, the capacity has changed."The building is always different from the drawings," said Ravens director of ticket operations Roy Sommerhof.Stadium builders compensated for some unexpected dimensions by varying the width of the seats -- they come in a couple of sizes -- by an inch or two to make them fit. This also changed the total number available.

DANA DAVIS PROUDLY displays the proclamation his grandfather, Charles "Doc" Davis, received from College Park officials at halftime of a Maryland football game in November 1979 declaring him the Terps' most "loyal and dedicated" fan. He brushes the dust off a football signed by Terps coach Jerry Claiborne and the rest of the team. Davis spent a lot of time with his grandfather, a three-term mayor of College Park and a multi-sport season-ticket holder at Maryland since 1930. He accompanied him to Byrd Stadium to watch Randy White and Mark Manges and to Cole Field House to see Brad Davis and John Lucas.

The Maryland Stadium Authority erred in allowing the Ravens to use more than $20 million in permanent seat license revenue to cover costs related to PSINet Stadium, according to Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. Curran, in a 14-page opinion issued yesterday, said the authority misinterpreted a 1996 law passed to prohibit money made from the seat licenses from enriching the team or its owners. Allowing the team to use the money to pay for its expenses at the state-owned stadium "would amount to a windfall that the statute was designed to prevent," according to the opinion.

In the first glimpse of Ravens ticket prices in the next century, the team has notified its club seat customers that their annual bills will be going up by as much as 50 percent by 2003.That means the most expensive club seats -- the best seats in the house, outside of a skybox -- will cost $337.50 a game by 2003.Ravens vice president of sales and marketing David Cope said the increases for club seats, a luxury category that comes with waiter service and other amenities, do not necessarily mean other fans will see their tickets go up as much.

If you camped out but still didn't get the seats you wanted for Ravens games when they went on sale over the weekend, hold on. More may become available in the fall.The team started selling single-game tickets for the regular season over the weekend, and moved more than 15,000 of the 48,000 put up for sale for the final seven home games of the season. (The home opener on Sept. 6 against Pittsburgh had been sold out by lottery.)Those tickets represent the 6,000 per game that Ravens officials have said they will set aside for fans who don't want to buy season tickets and the required permanent seat licenses.

The count is now official: the new Ravens stadium has 69,426 seats.That is roughly 1,000 more than the designers set out to build, but such are the vagaries of stadium building. A few wide expansion joints here, a mismeasured beam there and, before you know it, the capacity has changed."The building is always different from the drawings," said Ravens director of ticket operations Roy Sommerhof.Stadium builders compensated for some unexpected dimensions by varying the width of the seats -- they come in a couple of sizes -- by an inch or two to make them fit. This also changed the total number available.

The agonizing wait is finally over for Ravens season-ticket buyers who will soon receive their seat assignments at the new stadium.The team is girded for the response.Letters of notification will begin to be mailed tomorrow, and ceuld reach their recipients as early as Saturday. Some 51,000 seats have been assigned to 20,000 customers who bought "permanent seat licenses," the document required of most season-ticket buyers.Ravens spokesman Kevin Byrne said the team is pleased with the volume of sales and hopes it has instilled enough confidence in the seat-assignment process to head off complaints.

The agonizing wait is finally over for Ravens season-ticket buyers who will soon receive their seat assignments at the new stadium.The team is girded for the response.Letters of notification will begin to be mailed tomorrow, and ceuld reach their recipients as early as Saturday. Some 51,000 seats have been assigned to 20,000 customers who bought "permanent seat licenses," the document required of most season-ticket buyers.Ravens spokesman Kevin Byrne said the team is pleased with the volume of sales and hopes it has instilled enough confidence in the seat-assignment process to head off complaints.

If you buy a Ravens permanent seat license, you will: have to buy a ticket to every home game the team plays, including playoffs; give the team $50 before selling the license to your neighbor; and agree not to sue if a drunk knocks you down a flight of stairs in the upper deck.And if, by chance, the Ravens leave Baltimore, you won't get your money back.The fine print of the Ravens' controversial seat-licensing plan has finally gone out to potential buyers. The six-page, densely written document covers everything from the team's potential relocation -- an eventuality rendered unlikely by its 30-year stadium lease -- to who can sue whom in the event you slip on a melted ice cream cone.

The era of the publicly financed stadium may be coming to an end, if what's happening in Minnesota is any indication.The Minnesota Twins have spent the past couple of years trying to persuade local politicians to build a new baseball-only facility in the Twin Cities. Owner Carl Pohlad even set a deadline for public funding and reached a tentative agreement to sell the club to businessman Don Beaver, who said he hopes to move it to North Carolina.Trouble is, nobody fell for it. The state legislature let the Nov. 30 deadline pass without approving a funding plan and now one lawmaker is encouraging his fellow politicians to call the team's bluff.

One by one, they sat down in the purple chair, smiled for the cameras and received a rub on the shoulders and appreciative words from the team owner.The Ravens and owner Art Modell yesterday invited a few randomly selected season-ticket holders out to thank them for their support and allow them to test the seats that will be installed in the new stadium. But the event had another purpose: to kick off a campaign to pull the franchise out of a bit of a sophomore slump.Season-ticket and personal seat license sales for the club are still below where they were a year ago, and have even fallen behind the number sold in Cleveland for a team that doesn't yet exist.