Personal seat license

A personal seat license, or PSL, gives the holder the right to buy season tickets for a certain seat in a stadium. This holder can sell the seat license to someone else if they no longer wish to purchase season tickets. However, if the seat license holder chooses not to sell the seat licenses and does not renew the season tickets, the holder forfeits the license back to the team. Most seat licenses are valid for as long as the team plays in the current venue.

Seat licenses have been given various names- the most common term in North America is Personal Seat License and in Europe is Debenture. The primary reason sporting venues offer PSLs is that the proceeds are used to help pay the debt incurred during the construction of the stadium or arena. Opponents of PSLs see this as another way to extract money from the sports fans.

Origin of Seat Licenses
There are varying accounts as to the origin of the personal seat license.

According to one account, the first personal seat license plan was developed in 1986 at Stanford University by legendary tennis coach Dick Gould. Seeking financing for a new tennis stadium, Gould came up with the idea of selling the rights to seats, a licensing plan under which purchaser's name is engraved in the seat, and the purchaser owns the right to have first choice for tickets for any event held in the stadium.

According to a second account, the permanent seat license was invented by a Columbus, Ohio architect, Rick Ohanian, in January 1987. Ohanian described his plan in a Letter to The Editor of the Columbus Dispatch, published on March 2, 1987, entitled "Ticketbond is Answer to Financing Proposed Facility".

According to a third account, the permanent seat license was invented by Charlotte sports marketing agent, Max Muhleman, in 1993. Muhleman is credited as the founder of the first PSL's at Charlotte's then Carolinas Stadium.

Others cite similar programs that were in existence among many college fund raising activities prior to 1987. However, the early programs were tax-deductible donations to a scholarship fund, in which case the main "quid-pro-quo" was between the donation and the resultant deduction, not between the donation and the actual seating rights.

Seat Licenses Across Teams and Leagues
Here is a list of some of the teams that have seat licenses:

NFL Seat Licenses
 * Baltimore Ravens PSL
 * Carolina Panthers PSL
 * Chicago Bears PSL
 * Cincinnati Bengals COA (Charter Ownership Agreements)
 * Cleveland Browns PSL
 * Dallas Cowboys SL (Seat Licenses) (Effective at Cowboys Stadium only.)
 * New York Giants PSL (Effective in the New Meadowlands Stadium only. Buying Giants PSL does NOT give ticket rights for Jets.)
 * New York Jets PSL (Effective in the New Meadowlands Stadium only. Policies differ from the Giants. Buying Jets PSL does NOT give ticket rights for Giants.)
 * Houston Texans PSL
 * Philadelphia Eagles SBL (Stadium Builder Licenses)
 * Pittsburgh Steelers SL
 * Seattle Seahawks CSL (Charter Seat Licenses)
 * St. Louis Rams PSL
 * Tennessee Titans PSL

MLB Seat Licenses
 * Arizona Diamondbacks Legacy Club Seat Licenses
 * Minnesota Twins Legends Club Memberships (effective in Target Field only)
 * San Diego Padres Founders Club Memberships
 * San Francisco Giants CSL Charter Seat Licenses
 * St. Louis Cardinals Ballpark Founders Club Seat Licenses

Car Racing Seat Licenses
 * California Speedway PSL
 * Kentucky Speedway PSL
 * Texas Motor Speedway PSL

NHL Seat Licenses
 * Columbus Blue Jackets PSL
 * Toronto Maple Leafs PSL

NBA Seat Licenses
 * Charlotte Bobcats PSL
 * Toronto Raptors PSL
 * Utah Jazz PSL

NRL SL
 * Gold Coast Titans PSR (Personal Seat Right)