Permanent seat licenses, also known, for instance, as personal seat licenses, Stadium Builder licenses (SBL), Charter Ownership agreements (COA), Charter Seat licenses (CSL), and Preferred Access Speedway Seating (PASS), are a relatively recent innovation wherein, for example, sports teams sell “seat licenses” to fans desiring admission tickets to team events. Generally, the seat license for a particular seat within the stadium or arena enables and/or requires the holder of that license to purchase season tickets to team events. The season ticket, in turn, gains the holder admission to individual team events during the course of the season where the holder is able to sit in the particular seat. However, permanent seat licenses (referred to herein as “PSL's”) are also an important source of revenue for the sports team issuing the PSL's. This revenue can be used by the team to, for example, subsidize the construction of new facilities or for other purposes requiring capital outlay. Note that the PSL's may be issued by entities other than just sports teams. For example, the sports team may often act in partnership with a government entity, where the partnership issues the PSL's. In other instances, the government entity may build, own, and operate the stadium independently of the sports team and may thus issue the PSL's independently thereof. Further, the venue may be owned by an entity separate from both the sports team and the government entity and it is the separate entity which issues the PSL's. Note further that the PSL concept as described herein may be applicable to venues for other events besides sports such as, for example, theaters or the like. Thus, it will be understood by one skilled in the art that the PSL concept may have wide and varied applicability.
PSL's are generally offered directly to the public by the sports team (referred to herein as the “issuer”). These PSL's often have prices ranging from hundreds to many thousands of dollars. Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, such as moving from the area or losing interest in the team, holders may sometimes wish to sell their PSL's after buying them from the issuer. A problem herein lies that, since a PSL is a niche commodity, there is no established resale market for the product. In some instances, computer bulletin boards and newspaper classified ads are utilized to find a subsequent buyer. However, such transactions are often laden with uncertainty for both the seller and the buyer. For instance, due to the cost of the PSL's, a buyer may often have to procure financing, which may delay the transaction. If the seller is desperate to sell the PSL's, he may arrange to finance all or part of the sale to the buyer, which may further lead to uncertainty for the seller recouping his money from the buyer. Likewise, the buyer is faced with uncertainty as to, for example, whether the seller is the rightful owner of the PSL's or whether the seller will deliver the PSL's upon the buyer paying the purchase price. Sometimes, the buyer may be faced with the uncertainty that the PSL's correspond to seats that do not have the view of the playing field that the buyer desires or that the seats corresponding to the PSL's have a view that may adversely affect the value of the PSL's. In other instances, the PSL's may be offered for sale by the seller independently of the current season's tickets, wherein the buyer would not be able to obtain tickets until the following season. This situation may often not be revealed to the buyer, or the buyer may forget to inquire about this detail, until the transaction has been completed.
The PSL transaction may further include mutual uncertainties for both the buyer and the seller. For instance, since there is no established market, it is often difficult for both the seller and the buyer to ascertain a going market price for the PSL's. Such a market price may also be affected by performance factors with the team itself. For example, PSL's may rise significantly in price if the team has come off a successful championship season or has recently built a new stadium or arena. Conversely, the value of a PSL may drop significantly if the team is on a losing streak or is otherwise forecast to perform poorly in the future. In addition, there may be instances where the transaction between the buyer and the seller occurs over a distance and the parties cannot meet in person. In these instances, the uncertainties facing both the buyer and seller as to the reliability of the transaction may take on a greater significance. Further, the issuer typically maintains records of the current ownership of the respective PSL and the seller and/or the buyer may be required to notify the issuer of the ownership change at the time of the transaction, as well as to pay an associated fee for the transfer. Issuer requirements with regard to the transaction may vary between issuers and may also comprise a procedure which is unknown to the parties.
Thus, there exists a need for a medium for buying and selling PSL's in which reasonable assurances are provided to both the buyer and the seller concerning important aspects of the transaction, for example, that the seller is the rightful owner of the PSL and that the buyer is capable of paying the purchase price. Such a medium should also desirably be able to inform the parties of at least a best estimate of a current market price for the PSL's, be able to let the buyer evaluate the views from the corresponding seats, and be able inform the buyer and seller as to the transaction requirements imposed by the respective issuer. It may also be desirable for the medium to incorporate provisions for facilitating the transaction wherein the seller can submit the PSL and the buyer can submit the corresponding remittance to a trusted intermediary. The medium should also desirably be able to account for the current season's tickets corresponding to the PSL together with or independently of the sale of the PSL.