TRENTON, N.J. -- The New York Giants will charge fans between $1,000 and $20,000 for the right to buy season tickets in the new stadium they are building with the New York Jets.
The Jets have not said if they plan to sell personal seat licenses, but Thursday's announcement makes it appear inevitable both teams will do so.
The Jets did not immediately return a call.
Giants co-owner John Mara said most of the 82,500 seats in the stadium, scheduled to open in 2010, will carry seat license fees of $1,000. Less than 5,000 seats will carry license fees of $20,000.
Mara acknowledged he is worried about angering longtime fans of the Super Bowl champions. The charge applies to each seat a ticket-holder owns.
"We tried hard to come up with a plan that guarantees everybody the opportunity to stay in the building," he said.
He said it would be "extremely difficult" to build the $1.6 billion stadium in the Meadowlands -- whose cost is being split evenly by the two teams -- without asking fans to help pay for it through seat licenses. Mara said the license fees will raise $300 million to $400 million.
Personal seat licenses are used by team owners to build stadiums. The one-time payments guarantee the buyer the right to control the seat for as long as the team plays in that stadium, and can be transferred or sold for whatever the market will bear. Besides paying once for the seat license, fans still have to pay the cost of season tickets each year.
