I hear that the football Giants are going to have something new to say about their personal seat licenses tomorrow. I’ve already heard from some of you and what you think about the idea of paying between $1,000 and $20,000 for the right to then buy season tickets, which by the way, are going to be more expensive, in the new stadium.

I’d love to hear from more of you guys. As you can imagine, most of the mail and email I’ve received is extremely negative, and I’ve already written that I think it’s a disgrace for the Giants to treat their fans this way, and that in my opinion this would not have ever happened if Mr. Wellington Mara was still alive.

So, what do you have to say about it?

11:44 p.m., Sam says:

I don’t think there’s a sports fan alive who likes the idea of paying for PSL’s, other than maybe the ones who are on the decades-long waiting list for Giants season tix and can now purchase a PSL from someone else and, thus, finally get their own season tix.

That said, my reaction to PSL’s in general is the same as it is most of the time people complain about the cost of sporting events these days: Blame America.

The truth is that it’s hard to fault any business for doing something that makes money in a capitalist society, particularly if the consumer allows it to be done by participating. This isn’t gasoline or milk or bread we’re talking about – Giants tickets (or any tickets) are not life staples. No one forces people to buy them. So if the Giants do PSL’s and they’re able to get people to pay for them and still fill up their brand new stadium, how upset can I really get? Are they alienating fans? I guess they are (because I hear from plenty that are upset) but they clearly aren’t alienating so many that their fan base has completely eroded. Clearly some fans are willing to go along with this whole thing. A lot of fans, in fact.

A decade ago the Oakland Raiders did PSL’s and some fans snapped them up right at the start. Years later, the Raiders had to abandon the PSL program entirely (too bad for those folks who’d already paid) because they couldn’t sell out their stadium. The fans had stopped coming. In other words, the fans let the Raiders know that PSL’s wouldn’t work – and so they disappeared.

Will that happen to the Giants? Somehow, I doubt it. If it does, then I’ll have no problem calling out the Giants for doing something that very clearly turned their fans against them. But if it doesn’t, and the new Meadowlands is packed to the brim for years and years to come, then I’ve got a hard time coming down too hard on the organization. After all, they’re just being absolutely American.

Carp says:

Is it really absolutely American to build a fanbase with trust, a fanbase so unbelievably loyal through so many bad years, a fanbase that has already been kicked around from Yankee Stadium to New Haven to New Jersey, and then to tell a great percentage of that fanbase: “If you can’t afford it, get out! We’ll go find somebody richer to take your place?”

It’s pretty sad if it is. It’s a money-grab, pure and simple. Making people pay for their love. It’s like a church that fills up every Sunday suddenly selling tickets to get in. Is that American?

THURSDAY NIGHT UPDATE:

I just finished a column for The Journal News and LoHud.com tomorrow on the Giants’ personal seat license program.

I spoke with John Mara, and with some long-time fans who will have to pay a lot more if they want to go to Giants games in 2010.

Jeff Gold provided the basics on the new seat prices and PSL costs.

The letters are going out tomorrow, Friday, in batches of 5,000 letters at a time. The Giants promise that they are doing it in batches so that they can handle the questions that season-ticket holders are sure to have, and that nobody will get any first-come, first-served priority until all of the current season-ticket holders have received their letters and everybody has had time to have questions answered and to return their forms and requests for 2010.

But, if you want an early preview on what to expect cost-wise, seat-wise, PSL-wise, stadium-wise in 2010, click here.

10:14 a.m., Sam says:

Carp, I’m not saying that PSLs are palatable or the right thing to do, just that it’s easy to get in an uproar over something that charges “the average fan” a lot of money even though the reality is that the team is simply following a principal that, for the most part, Americans encourage (and even praise). That is what business is all about and, truthfully, most fans need to be reminded that the teams they root for are in business, not some sort of sports vacuum.

Should it be that way? That’s a question we can debate at some point later this summer, but it’s the reality. You did a great job with your column about PSLs and some of the stories you hear about fans who can’t afford to keep their seats are incredibly sad (tickets that have been passed down for generations being lost, etc.); I’m not saying I don’t feel for them. I do. But I also understand the premise behind the decision, so while I can be upset at the Giants for what they are doing, I can’t be that enraged over the thought process that led them to it.

(Oh, and by the way, the church analogy doesn’t exactly work since churches are free to get into on regular basis and Giants Stadium has never been free to enter. A better example would be a country club charging an initiation fee—is there outrage over that? Essentially, you’re paying the initiation fee for the right to pay your yearly dues, much the same way you pay the PSL for the right to pay for season tickets. Is Winged Foot as wrong as the New York Giants?)