BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — It's been the talk of the town, the cost of personal seat licenses, or PSLs, at the new home of the Buffalo Bills.
As we reported on Monday, members of Bills Mafia have been reporting sticker shock at some of the rumored initial numbers as they begin the process of cementing their future seats inside the new Highmark Stadium.
But what do these new numbers mean and should all fans expect the same?
"It's one of these things, we think this is what it looks like, but we are not really sure until we see," said Nelli Drew, a professor and Sports Law Expert at the University at Buffalo.
The Bills have not confirmed any of the numbers being shared by fans on social media, but we do know that PSL prices are being rolled out by the team in stages starting with club seats.
7 News has learned that at this point less than one percent of season ticket members have been invited to the Bills Stadium Experience to discuss their PSL, and at this point, the PSLs have only been released for premier club seat offerings.
"It is supply and demand," said John Cimperman, Founder of Barnstorm Sports Group. "The more premium the seat, the higher the personal seat license is going to be."
Cimperman has more than 30 years of experience working with professional sports franchises. He believes at this point fans are only getting a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to PSL pricing.
"They are going to be staged, they are going to be flighted cost-wise, based upon, again, supply and demand," said Cimperman. "When you start to get into the corners, the end zones, and upstairs, historically — I haven't seen the pricing, but historically — in other venues that pricing is less than it is for premium 50-yard-line seats."
Experts say PSLs are often market-specific, making it difficult to compare PSL pricing for the new Highmark Stadium to other newer venues including stadiums in Los Angeles and Dallas.
"Those markets are apples to oranges to Buffalo," said Cimperman.
Still, to get a feel of the potential range of PSL prices available elsewhere, 7 News looked at recent pricing released by the Atlanta Falcons.
"Founders Membership" PSLs at Mercedez-Benz Stadium in Atlanta cost $47,000 per seat, with other club-level options ranging from $11,000 to just over $20,000. Step outside the club-levels in Atlanta and fans can secure PSL starting at $500 ranging up to $5,600.
"It was never going to be easy," said Cimperman of introducing PSLs into the Buffalo market. "There should be no surprises that the PSLs are part of the financing. This is what was said from day one."
Still, Cimperman understands that the pricing of PSLs for the new home of the Bills is a delicate topic for longtime season ticket holders.
"A lot of the best seats are legacy season ticket holders that date back 20 to 30 years, and a lot of these season ticket holders are at this stage of their life, they are on a fixed income," said Cimperman. "So the question is going to be for a lot of fans who have been sitting in premium seats because of their tenure, do they want to move upstairs? That's going to be an individual decision based upon where they are in their life stage."
"The three least favorite words in football are fumble, interception and PSL," said Cimperman.
This has been a hot topic recently and it has caught the attention of Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
WATCH: 'I'm just disappointed': Erie County Executive on rumored PSL prices at new Buffalo Bills stadium
