Steelers season ticket holders "bought virtually all of
the proposed 45,000 personal seat licenses" in the team's
proposed 65,000-seat stadium, according to Walsh & Barnes of
the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. The Steelers offered "Stadium
Builders Licenses" (SBL) to season ticket holders for a one-
time charge of $250 to $2,700, with a 20% discount to those
who responded before December 5. Of the 20,000 seats that
will not require seat-license fees, 11,000 will be offered
to the 8,000 people on the team's waiting list and 9,000
will be held for individual games. The seat-licensing
program "is expected to raise" $34-37M toward the cost of
the $211M facility. Steelers VP Art Rooney II said sales of
SBLs "represents the fastest total subscription achieved
anywhere in the NFL" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 12/15).
Rooney "estimated" that 18,000 fans made down payments for
the 45,000 licenses, but that the $37M the team "hopes" to
raise isn't the "final figure" because "administrators have
yet to determine how many of each type of license has been
sold" (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 12/15).
