Anatomy of a Season Ticket Upgrade: How Two Raiders Fans Improved Their Season Ticket Deal At New Allegiant Stadium In Las Vegas

By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com

Some of the best negotiations you will ever hear is between a sports fan and a team ticket seller over the season ticket price of a certain seat and the availability of certain seats in a stadium or arena.

Such was the case with two friends who wanted to remain anonymous after they had a chat with their Raiders ticket rep over their season tickets at the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium.

Originally, the couple paid personal seat licenses of $25,000 for both seats, or $12,500 per seat, for two seats about three rows from the top of the stadium’s lower bowl at the 10 yard line.

Then, they paid for the season tickets, which were $200 per seat per game — or $400 for both of those seats per game. Multiple that by 10 home games (eight regular season and two preseason) and it cost $4,000 for both seats for a full Raiders home season.

But then this couple learned some new information from friends in August after they had their season tickets and personal seat licenses wrapped up a year earlier.

They learned MGM Resorts International was returning a batch of season tickets, opening up seats much closer to the field.

And these seats were in a sweet location — only three rows off the field between the 20- and 30-yard lines.

So they worked with their Raiders ticket rep and upgraded their season ticket deal and seat location.

They paid $40,000 for personal seat licenses for both seats at the new location instead of the $25,000 for the two seats at the old, original location.

And then they paid $350 per seat per game — or $700 for both seats — or $7,000 for both seats for a full home season. That was up from the $4,000 for both seats at the former original location.

The couple liked their seat upgrade. They believe paying $15,000 more for two personal seat licenses and $3,000 more for the two season tickets per year was a definite win because there is big value in the upgrade that was worth the extra money.

The Raiders are expected to sell out their tickets by the end of this month.

But fans being fans, I would not be surprised if there is more wheeling and dealing before the new domed, 65,000-seat stadium is expected to be completed July 31, 2020.

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The Raiders have another big source of income besides personal seat licenses and season ticket sales. They are piling up more than a dozen stadium partners. Last week, Las Vegas area Ford dealers cut a 10-year stadium partnership with the Raiders.

On Wednesday, Raiders President Marc Badain will be at The M hotel-casino in Henderson to announce another business partnership for the NFL team.

Here are the founding partners at the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium: Allegiant Air, America First Credit Union, Caesar Entertainment, Cox, Credit One Bank, Desert Ford Dealers, Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, San Manuel Casino and Twitch. Stay tuned for more.

Findlay Kia in Las Vegas is auctioning off this Raiders mobile that made an appearance at the recent SEMA car show in Las Vegas.

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