The Denver Broncos sent an email to season ticket holders on Thursday asking them to take a survey about the possibility of renovations to Empower Field at Mile High and the possibility of a completely new stadium.
“Surveys sent to fans regarding our gameday/stadium experience are the next step of the research project we announced in January,” team president Damani Leech tweeted on March 23. “We’ve had great feedback from the focus groups & look forward to learning even more with the surveys. Let us know what you think, Broncos Country!”
The Broncos have not yet officially made a decision on the possibility of a new stadium, but this is a step in a process that could ultimately lead to such a decision being made.
Thursday’s survey link asked questions about the stadium’s location (and how far fans are willing to travel) and the possibility of a roof on the stadium, among other topics. The survey also introduced the possibility of personal seat licenses, a one-time purchase that gives season ticket holders the “right” to buy their tickets each season.
PSLs are hated by fans but loved by teams because they can help fund building new stadiums. One fan on Twitter said he would have to pay almost $15,000 to get PSLs for his three season tickets in the highest section of the stadium.
“If the @Broncos want me to pay nearly $15000 for a PSL for my 3 seats, plus increase the total price per season for those seats by $2400 (to nearly $6000) I’ll be out,” @H_MooreCO tweeted Thursday.
Many fans will feel similarly, but with a long season-ticket waiting list, Denver will likely be able to find other fans willing to pay up. NFL games are already expensive to attend. Adding in PSLs for season ticket holders would make Broncos games even more out of reach for many fans.
“PSL’s price out average-income fans,” @AlamoOnTheRise tweeted Thursday. “If the Walton-Penner group is seeking to wash out longstanding, lower income season ticket holders, PSL’s are the way to go.”
Denver’s front office will point out that nearly every modern NFL stadium has been built with the help of PSLs. Broncos fans can counter, though, that no other NFL team has an ownership group like the Walton-Penner family.
Rob Walton has an estimated net worth of nearly $60 billion. The next-richest owner in the NFL is David Tepper, worth nearly $19 billion. Denver has the richest ownership group in the NFL by a very wide margin.
The Broncos do not have an ordinary ownership group, and they shouldn’t follow the lead of ordinary owners. Every ownership group in the NFL can afford to pay for their own stadium, and Denver’s even more so. Nothing is official yet, but if the Broncos ultimately decide to build a new super stadium, the owners should not ask fans to help fund it with PSLs.
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