If you want to purchase a seat license at the new NFL stadium in Los Angeles, it's going to cost you some serious money.
The Rams and Chargers both announced this week that they've started selling stadium seat licenses (SSL) for the new L.A. stadium that's slated to open in 2020. Although the teams are ostensibly selling the same product -- an NFL game -- there's a major price difference depending on which team you decide to buy a seat license with.
For the Rams, the most expensive seat license will cost $100,000. Although most seats in the stadium will require a seat license, the two teams are only selling licenses right now for 13,000 premium seats.
Of those seats 13,000 seats, 500 of them will be all-access seats, 2,500 of them will be VIP seats and the other 10,000 will be club seats. For the Rams, the all-access seats will require a seat license fee of $100,000, while that number will be just $75,000 for the Chargers.
The perk of sitting in the most expensive all-access seats is that they include food and beverage at each game, access to two different clubs, plus the guaranteed right to purchase tickets to nearly every stadium event, including the Super Bowl.
The Rams will sell seat licenses in the VIP area for $80,000, while that number will be just $50,000 for the Chargers. With the club seats, the Rams will sell the licenses in that area for somewhere between $15,000 and $35,000. Meanwhile, the Chargers will sell seat licenses in that same area for $10,000 to $25,000.
Once you buy the license in one of the premium areas, all season tickets will cost the same amount at $375 for Rams games and $350 for Chargers games. The cheapest seat licenses will sell for around $1,000 for the Rams, although prices in that range haven't yet been finalized, according to the team. The Chargers also haven't finalized the prices for their most inexpensive seat licenses.
The pricing seems a little odd and that's because it seems like a big risk for the Rams. If the Chargers were to win the Super Bowl in one of the next two years, that would almost certainly give them a boost in the ticket-selling department. Basically, if you're a casual NFL fan in L.A., why would you pay more to watch the Rams when you can watch the Chargers for cheaper?
Of course, based on results from last season, that's not something that Rams are going to have to worry about.
Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff explained how his team came to the final prices on the seat licenses.
"We surveyed thousands of fans and season ticket members multiple times to develop pricing that is fair," Demoff said in a statement. "There will be a range of price options for all fans, and that will be evident as the entire seating program is rolled out. There has been great interest in this project since we unveiled it and we are eager for our fans to learn about the variety of options available to them."
One unique thing about the seat license for both the Rams and the Chargers is that everyone is expected to eventually be getting their money back. The only catch here is that they'll have to wait 50 years. The seat license is basically a deposit that will go toward the construction of the stadium. After 50 years, the teams will refund the deposit.
"I think the most simple way to put it is, if you buy a Rams season-seat license, you'll get your money back. And when you buy a Chargers season-seat license, you'll get your money back," Demoff said, via the Orange County Register.
Basically, if you buy a VIP seat license this year, the Rams will cut you a check for $100,000 to refund your deposit in 2068.
The 70,240 seat stadium will have 260 luxury suites, along with almost three million square feet of usable space. The new stadium, which is will open in 2020, is already scheduled to host Super Bowl LVI in 2022, the College Football Playoff National Championship game in 2023 and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2028 Summer Olympics.
