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£4,000 a seat idea floated for new United stadium

 

Manchester United season-ticket holders could have to pay up to £4,000 each just to reserve a seat at their new ground if the proposed move into a 100,000-seat stadium goes ahead.

The introduction of a Personal Seat Licence (PSL) is one of many possible ideas that have been put to supporters during recent focus group sessions organised by US stadium consultants CSL International, which has experience of helping American franchises find ways to part-fund new stadiums.

Under the PSL scheme, which is commonplace in some American sports, if a fan buys a seat licence they are given first refusal on that seat for 30 years.

The seat licence owner would still have to pay for a season ticket on top of that one-off fee and if they failed to take up the option to buy a season ticket one year, the club would take back the ticket and the licence would be void.

The initiative would give fans a guarantee of remaining in the same seats every year, but they would have to pay for that privilege and that money could potentially help the club raise many millions to put towards the cost of building a new stadium.

Even the slightest possibility of United becoming the first Premier League club to introduce the seat licences will be of concern to fans who are already struggling to pay for a season ticket.

In January Barcelona raised approximately £86million by selling 475 seat licences in the VIP section of their new stadium to wealthy investors from the Middle East.

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