USC sent season-ticket holders a survey about paying for personal seat licenses
Could personal seat licenses be a part of USC football in the future?
USC recently sent its season-ticket holders a survey about improvements to the Los Angeles Coliseum and included on the survey was the possibility of personal seat licenses.
According to Inside USC, the range of fees was between $1,000-4,000. A USC spokesperson told the site that there were no conclusions to be drawn from the survey about the possibility of personal seat licenses.
“Nothing is close to being set in stone, no decisions have been made . . . that’s the reason for the survey," the spokesperson said.
The most expensive season tickets at USC are currently $450 a seat after a $30 "Coliseum Improvement Fee." The school is currently making $70 million in improvements to the stadium over the next 10 years after signing a 98-year lease to remain in the stadium.
Personal seat licenses have become popular with the NFL, where a buyer is forced to buy the rights to the seat he or she wants before even purchasing the tickets to sit in the seat. The Minnesota Vikings will raise $100 million for the team's new stadium in PSL revenues alone.
However, personal seat licenses aren't exclusive to professional sports. Stanford says tennis coach Dick Gould developed one of the first personal seat license plans for fundraising for tennis facilities in 1986. Ohio State currently uses PSLs for some seating at Value City Arena.
Plus, many college programs mandate a donation for the right to purchase season tickets for major sports. In many cases, the larger donation, the better the seat. At Alabama, South Zone tickets are $2,200 per-seat for the Tide Pride donation program.
While the personal seat license term may be unfamiliar to many in college football, it's not an uncommon concept.
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is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @NickBromberg
