Amid renovations to Bank of America Stadium and coming off their first playoff appearance since '08, the NFL Panthers yesterday announced that they are "raising ticket prices between $2 and $21 per game" next season, according to Joseph Person of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. Panthers Ticket Sales & Operations Dir Phil Youtsey said, "We've stayed flat for five years." Person notes the "biggest increase of $21 affects 2,400 (3 percent) of the team’s season-ticket holders, whose seats are in the lower level between the 40-yard lines." The "majority of the seats -- 66 percent -- will go up by $2 to $5 apiece for upper-deck tickets." Price increases are for "both season tickets and single-game tickets, which go on sale in May." Youtsey said that the Panthers still "remain in the bottom half of the league in terms of ticket prices." Person notes the team's average ticket price has "gone from approximately $67 to $72." Tickets in the 74,000-seat stadium now "range from $41 to $130, but do not include suites and club seats" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 2/18). In Charlotte, Erik Spanberg noted the "cheapest seats, formerly $39 each, increased by $2," or 5%, while 13% of seats "will cost $8 or $11 more." Meanwhile, the Panthers could "tinker with pricing in the next year or two by adopting the variable plans many sports franchises are beginning to favor" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 2/17).
