Falcons cut some upper-level PSL prices

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, slated to open next year, is under construction next to the Georgia Dome. (AP File Photo/David Goldman)

Credit: David Goldman

Credit: David Goldman

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, slated to open next year, is under construction next to the Georgia Dome. (AP File Photo/David Goldman)

The Falcons plan to reduce the prices on several thousand personal seat licenses in the upper level of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Seat licenses in the four upper corners of the new stadium, which previously were priced at $1,500 and $1,250, will be re-priced between $500 and $750, according to team officials.

The change comes 17 months after the Falcons began selling PSLs — one-time fees for the right to buy season tickets — in the 70,000-seat downtown stadium, which is slated to open next year.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last month that the Falcons had sold 29,211 PSLs, or about 45 percent of the non-suite seats in the stadium, through March 31, the latest figures available.

Michael Drake, senior vice president and chief revenue officer of Falcons parent company AMB Sports & Entertainment, said the pricing change in the upper corners resulted from fan demand for a new option after the upper-level end-zone seats, which carried the stadium’s cheapest PSL fee of $500, sold out.

“This will give us more inventory priced at points where people tell us there is demand,” Drake said. “We had people coming through the doors saying, ‘Do you have any more of that $500 inventory?’”

Four sections in each of the stadium’s upper corners — 16 sections in all — are affected by the price change. The seats are in sections 301-304, 319-322, 329-332 and 347-350.

The Falcons wouldn’t say exactly how many seats are in those sections and wouldn’t be more specific about the new prices than saying they will be in the $500-$750 range.

Drake said few seats have been sold in the affected sections to this point and that those buyers will receive a credit for the difference.

Comparable locations at the Georgia Dome also have few season-ticket accounts, he said, making the seats “un-allocated” in the seat-relocation process. By holding that inventory, he said, the Falcons maintained the flexibility to respond to fan feedback with adjusted prices in those sections at this point.

Drake said the price reduction doesn’t portend cuts to come for more expensive seats elsewhere in the stadium.

“We are too far sold through” to need to do that, he said. “The only place we could create or add a new price point is in those upper corners.”

The Falcons recently removed prices for specific seats from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium website, which Drake attributed to a switch in technology providers.

The seat-license prices range from $10,000 to $45,000 for club seats and from $500 to $5,500 for non-club seats. Down payments of 10 percent are required when sales contracts are signed, and financing is available for up to 10 years.

Proceeds of the seat-license sales go toward Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s construction cost. PSLs are required for all seats sold as Falcons season tickets in the new stadium. In addition to the one-time PSL fee, the season tickets will range from $55 to $385 per game.

The season-ticket prices won’t change for the upper-level corner seats that are getting the new PSL prices. Season tickets for those seats cost $70 or $80 per game, depending on the row.

Separately, in a late change to the new stadium’s seating configuration and premium sales inventory, the Falcons will add loge boxes — groups of four to eight seats — at the back of the lower bowl inside the 10-yard lines on both sides and ends of the field.

There will be a total of 28 such boxes, starting at approximately $65,000 for the Falcons season with the option of purchasing Atlanta United soccer tickets for an undetermined fee.

The high-tech boxes will include table tops, wireless charging pads, virtual-reality capability and TV screens operated through smartphone apps.

Drake said sales have been strong for the stadium’s suites and that the loge boxes will be marketed to customers seeking a product with fewer seats than a suite.