Jets net more than $16 million in online seat license auction

NEW YORK -- Sold! For $16 million, 620 personal seat licenses for choice spots in the New York Jets' new stadium.

Team executives celebrated Tuesday as they announced the results of an unprecedented online PSL auction, though the nine-day sale occurred as the stock market plunged and more than two-thirds of the seats originally up for bid went unpurchased.

"The fact that the Jets have sold this many seats in a brand-new process, I think is absolutely amazing," team owner Woody Johnson told the Associated Press.

Bidding ended Monday night as the team initially auctioned 2,000 PSLs for the exclusive Coaches Club -- located near the 50-yard line and behind the Jets' bench -- on the ticketing website StubHub. It was the first time a U.S. sports team auctioned off PSLs online.

"We thought this was an unprecedented opportunity for fans to buy these seats and they stepped up and bought them," Johnson said. "It kind of validated our thought that there is value to a PSL because people paid a lot of money in the open market in a way that had never been done before."

The average winning bid was $26,000.

Buyers "have the vision to look over this deep valley we're in right now," Johnson said. "They can look out two years and look out for their kids and grandkids that come along and realize that this is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy something for the long-term."

The highest bid came in the auction's final hours at $82,000 for front-row seats around the 45-yard line.

"That was the cherry on top," said Matt Higgins, the team's executive vice president of business operations.

The next-highest winning bids were: $65,100, $61,100, $60,500 and $55,500, while the lowest was $10,500.

"In terms of what we did, we're very happy with what occurred, extremely happy," Johnson said.

StubHub, an eBay company, also was pleased with the results of the auction after dealing in the past with fixed pricing for events.

"It was unique and groundbreaking, and that was one thing we knew going in and unlike something StubHub had supported in the past," spokesman Sean Pate said. "It was an extremely huge success for us on a number of levels. Certainly, the overall output from the auction and the results that the Jets realized were very exciting for us."