Jets Owner Johnson Discusses Season-Ticket Sales, New Stadium

Johnson Says Jets Season Tickets Have Been Sold Out For 35 Years, But Is Tougher Now

Jets Owner Woody Johnson appeared on CNBC yesterday to discuss the team's ticket sales at the new Giants/Jets stadium prior to him ringing the NYSE Closing Bell. When asked by CNBC's Maria Bartiromo about the team alerting members of its season-ticket waiting list to available season tickets, Johnson said, "This year it is tougher. I mean, we've been sold out for 35 years. So the fact that we have unsold tickets and are working through our waiting list is unprecedented. But we're working through it, and we're confident." Bartiromo noted both the Yankees and Giants have cut prices on high-end seats and asked Johnson how confident he is that the Jets "can actually fill up the stadium without going down the road of cutting prices." Johnson noted the team has already "cut prices in a way." Johnson: "We don't have … PSLs on 27,000 seats. So we did that up front, recognizing that we wanted to have something for everybody. ... I'll say this. We're confident that by a year from now we'll be sold out." Johnson said the team's expenditure into the new stadium "will pay off." Johnson: "It will be great for the fans and great for the Jets and it will enable us to field good teams. We want the government to basically stay out of the way rather than get in the way." Johnson added ringing the closing bell is a "great honor to be here for all of us, to be in the heart of the financial world" ("Closing Bell," CNBC, 7/20).

DESPERATE TIMES: Jets Exec VP/Business Operations Matt Higgins said that the "combined effects of the transition to the new stadium -- where most seats come with costly PSLs -- and the recession" have resulted in the team launching an "aggressive marketing campaign'" to sell the team's remaining season tickets for the '09 season. He added that the team "'definitely' will sell out by the start of the 2009 season, but the offering still was a surprise to many longtime waiting list members" (NEWSDAY, 7/21).