The Falcons plan to convert about 750 seats in Mercedes-Benz Stadium to a “super fan” section that won’t require personal seat licenses.
The seats, located in a lower-level corner, will be the only ones in the stadium to be offered as season tickets without a PSL fee. The section will be sold as general admission, meaning buyers won’t be assigned a specific seat.
A spokesperson for the Falcons’ parent company, AMB Sports & Entertainment, said the area will be “geared toward super avid fans” and “is expected to add to the energy level inside the stadium.”
The new offering could address, on a limited basis, one common complaint since Mercedes-Benz Stadium opened: that all Falcons season tickets required personal seat licenses. But the change also could raise an issue with seat holders throughout the stadium who were told when they purchased their seats that no Falcons season ticket would be available anywhere in the building without a PSL.
The AMBSE representative said the Falcons “are proud of our PSL model” but “believe introducing this general admission area will be appealing to our fan base that has been purchasing (tickets) on the secondary market.”
Personal seat licenses are one-time fees for the right to buy season tickets.
Season tickets in the “super fan section” — a working name for the space, which will be rebranded — are expected to go on sale this month at a price of $1,000. That comes to $100 for each regular-season and exhibition game. The Falcons currently plan to sell the seats only as season tickets, not on a single-game basis.
PSLs in the affected section originally were priced at $3,500 (later $3,700), plus the annual cost of season tickets.
Although the area — Section 134, below Molly B’s restaurant — contains 753 seats, the Falcons plan to sell up to 900 general-admission season tickets for the space, with spillover fans expected to watch games from standing room in Molly B’s. Overselling the number of seats figures to increase the likelihood of a full section even if some buyers don’t attend a particular game.
“This new product offering will feature a great game experience with like-minded fans with high energy … (and) will be an area encouraging people to come early and stay in the area vs. roaming around the stadium to consistently show their fandom,” the AMBSE representative said. “... Now, those fans will have their own area that we hope will fuel, hype and engage all Falcons fans throughout the stadium.”
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com
The Falcons hope to be able to have full-capacity crowds for the 2021 season, although that depends on the course of the COVID-19 pandemic between now and then.
According to the Falcons, the 140 account holders who currently hold PSLs for about 300 seats in the affected area will be offered replacement PSLs in comparable or upgraded locations elsewhere in the stadium. (Other seats in the affected area were previously used for team associates.) PSL holders in the section who opt to participate in the “super fan” program will have a prorated portion of their original seat license payment applied to their season-ticket account, but all seat licenses within that one section will be eliminated.
The Falcons’ original seat-license sales contract appears to have contemplated such a possibility, stating the team “reserves the right to re-designate the specific locations of seats and to modify the assignment of specific seats to PSLs” if an amenity area or seating area is altered or reconfigured.
About the Author
