Charlotte FC president talks fan concern over PSLs, says it hasn’t slowed ticket sales
Charlotte FC president Nick Kelly addressed lingering fan concern regarding season ticket prices and the required purchase of a PSL, or Personal Seat License, for season tickets not in the Supporters Section at Bank of America Stadium.
Charlotte FC, the city’s new Major League Soccer team, is set to play in the league at the stadium starting in 2022.
During a conversation Thursday morning on regional radio channel WFAE 90.7, Kelly said that the club “probably failed rolling out the messaging” regarding the announcement of season ticket prices in February and “maybe made a miscalculation as to the soccer fan’s knowledge on the value of PSLs.”
“I would say probably the biggest hurdle in this was the communication wasn’t clear,” Kelly said. “While (there are) some vocal people who are disappointed in our choice to go down the route of having a PSL, it hasn’t really slowed down our season ticket expectations and pace.”
A PSL guarantees fans exclusive, long-term ownership rights to a specific seat in the roughly 75,000-seat stadium, which is undergoing construction to outfit the venue with soccer-friendly enhancements.
Charlotte FC’s pricing structure for season tickets includes a required, one-time PSL fee for seats outside the standing-only Supporters Section, making the tickets the most expensive in the league. PSL prices range from $350 to $900, and as the concept of the PSL fee was new to MLS, many fans were critical of the high costs during the price rollout last winter.
Kelly highlighted the value of season ticket packages for members that include benefits such as access to exclusive events and meet-and-greets with team personnel, and stressed that the PSL was a one-time fee rather than an annually renewed membership. He also said that “every dollar” netted from PSL ticket revenue has been reinvested into the stadium, a point that was previously unanswered by the club during the price rollout.
“We have one of the best locker rooms in MLS. We’ve got this brand new Supporters Gate (East Gate), supporters bars,” Kelly said of the stadium’s $50 million renovation project, which is partially funded by Charlotte FC ownership group Tepper Sports & Entertainment.
“These are the types of investments where we’re turning around and putting (PSL revenue) right back into the soccer product to make sure that these fans who have invested their hard-earned money in season tickets and PSLs,” Kelly said. “(That they’re) getting a product that is representative of that level of investment, and honestly what they and we would be proud of.”
The club declined to disclose details of how ticket revenue would be allocated when The Observer reported a story in February about fan concern over prices, in which many fans said that they wanted more information about how the fees would be used by the club.
The PSL model has long been an option for fans of the Carolina Panthers, the NFL franchise sharing an ownership group and stadium with Charlotte FC. Kelly said that there was a less than 10 percent overlap in season ticket members between the two teams when Charlotte FC first launched deposits and sales.
“I think that when we have 60,000-plus season-ticket members on the Panthers side, we assume that everybody understands what it is,” Kelly said. “There was really a gap when we started selling season tickets.”
The Charlotte FC president also provided the first update since last year regarding ticket sales. Although he did not specify a number, Kelly said that Charlotte FC was in the top third of MLS clubs in season ticket sales, meaning in the top 10 of teams in the league that’s set to expand to 29 clubs by 2023.
Kelly has previously outlined attendance goals for the club in its first year, saying that Charlotte FC aims to host at least 74,000 fans at a single match, topping the league record in that category, and consistently fill the lower bowl of Bank of America Stadium, which means averaging around 30,000 fans at home matches.
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 2:19 PM.
