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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