Chargers set season ticket prices for first season in Los Angeles
Of course you’d pay more to see the Rolling Stones at a club, to hear Keith Richards’ fingers hitting the guitar strings, to see the sweat fly from Charlie Watts’ brow behind the drum kit.
Now, whether the Los Angeles Chargers are the Rolling Stones, that remains to be seen. But the NFL team is betting you’ll pay up to catch them there before they graduate to playing stadiums.
With the Chargers set to begin playing in the relatively cozy, 30,000-or-so-seat StubHub Center this season, the team on Tuesday unveiled a season-ticket plan that ranks as the priciest in the NFL.
The average ticket in the league’s smallest stadium will cost approximately $192, which would’ve been the highest average in the NFL last season according to data compiled by TeamMarketing.com.
The Rams, playing their first season in L.A. since 1994, had an average ticket price of $104 at the Coliseum.
“We know that in Los Angeles, people will want to have the best,” said Ken Derrett, the Chargers’ senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “And, we’re going to do our very best to not just give them the best seat, but to give them the best experience. I really believe what StubHub allows also is to deliver a unique experience you might not see in most stadiums.”
The experience, the team hopes, starts with a commute in which traffic to a 30,000-seat stadium almost certainly will be lighter than that headed to a 90,000-seat field. It moves to the parking lot, where the Chargers say there will be 10,000 spaces.
And then it moves inside the stadium, where the team believes every seat in the house will be a good one.
But all of that stuff? It costs.
Fans wishing to purchase the best seats will have to pay $375 per game for season tickets to sit midfield behind the Chargers bench. Tickets behind the opposing bench will be $325. Two season-ticket packages will cost more than $2,000, three will cost more than $1,000 and the cheapest seats, behind the north end zone, will cost $70 per game.
Team officials said close to 11% of the seats will sell for less than $100 per game.
For comparison, the Rams charged $225 per game for the most expensive season tickets and $40 for the cheapest seats last year at the Coliseum, which can hold roughly three times as many people as the Chargers’ temporary Carson home.
The cheapest season tickets last season in San Diego started at $45 per game.
Suite pricing at StubHub Center has yet to be disclosed.
“Playing at StubHub Center is going to offer fans a rare opportunity to see NFL action in a uniquely intimate setting,” A.G. Spanos, the team’s president of business operations, said in a statement. “Every seat at StubHub Center will feel close to the action and fans will be right there with us on every play. Not many venues can make this claim and we expect to sell out quickly.”
The Chargers’ eight regular-season home games in 2017 will be against Buffalo, Cleveland, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Oakland, Philadelphia and Washington.
The Chargers are accepting $100 deposits for a place on the season-ticket wait list at FightForLA.com. Fans can then purchase up to four season tickets for the upcoming season, the first of two the team is scheduled to play at StubHub Center before moving into a new stadium in Inglewood they will share with the Rams.
The deposit also comes with priority status for the Inglewood stadium.
The team hasn’t released the number of deposits submitted.
“I think everything we’ve heard in the marketplace, there’s going to be significant demand,” Derrett said.
Follow Dan Woike on Twitter @DanWoikeSports
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