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Tuesday, July 21, 1998
Astros licenses for new stadium seats to cost
as much as $20,000 apiece
By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON (AP) - If you want the privilege to buy absolutely
the best seats in the Houston Astros' new downtown baseball stadium
now under construction, prepare to dig deep.
Personal seat licenses, dubbed "charter seat licenses"
by the Astros, are the ticket to tickets for the 2,354 choicest
seats at $250 million The Ballpark at Union Station, expected
to be ready for the start of the 2000 season.
The licenses, which give buyers the right to purchase season
tickets, range from $2,000 to $20,000 per seat under a plan unveiled
Monday by the Astros.
That's in addition to the price of the individual game tickets,
which will range from $1 to $200. Current seats at the Astrodome
are priced from $1 to $23.
Top club executives, however, cautioned that seats included
under the CSL program amounted to less than 6 percent of the 42,000-plus
capacity park.
"There's going to be ample room for everybody who wants
season tickets," Astros owner Drayton McLane said. "One
of the objectives we have is to make baseball as affordable as
possible. We think this meets our goal."
The seats covered by license generally are in the sections
directly behind home plate and in the front rows of the field
level and club levels along the base lines between the dugouts.
The Astros hope to raise some $12 million under the plan, about
$3 million less than city officials anticipated when they originally
agreed to handle marketing of the licenses as part of the stadium
financing package. The Astros, however, agreed to take over the
obligation in exchange for control over the sale of the licenses,
with revenues helping pay the team's annual rent.
"There is certainly a risk you can't sell these, but we
think we can market this and people will respond positively,"
Bob McLaren, Astros senior vice president, said.
Thirteen corporations who chipped in $38 million toward the
cost of the downtown land where the new stadium is being built
are getting the first chance at the CSLs. Season tickets holders
will be next in line and are being notified this week, with 20-year
season tickets holders eligible for a 10 percent discount. Ten-year
season ticket holders get a 5 percent discount.
The Astros have about 11,000 season ticket holders this year,
a solid number for Houston but less than half the number of teams
like Baltimore, Cleveland or the Texas Rangers, whose ticket bases
are in the 25,000- to 30,000 range.
"We certainly hope and feel we'll be in that level,"
McLane said.
The license scheme to help pay for new stadiums, which began
in the early 1990s with Carolina of the National Football League,
is rare for baseball teams, who play 81 home dates each season.
"It's hard to sell for baseball because of the number
of games," McLane said.
Astros officials said they were aware of only two others: the
San Francisco Giants, who have $45 million pledged for 50 percent
of seats for a new stadium; and Seattle, where a limited number
of seats is nearly sold out.
The Astros said their plan is similar to the Seattle's.
"It was more important to us to have a program that is
easily understood and explainable to the public," McLaren
said.
Rights holders will get to keep their seats for the 30-year
duration of the Astros' contract with the city and county as long
as they continue to buy season tickets.
The Astros also announced that 63 luxury suites, which would
not require CSLs, would be available from $75,000 to $130,000.
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