[Senator Clay Davis]

I seriously doubt this could ever fly up here, but an interesting new approach by the Warriors as they look to pay for their new San Francisco arena: Essentially a PSL that calls itself a "membership" where you have to commit to buy season tickets for 30 years, you cannot sell the license for a profit, and you get your "membership" money back at the end of the 30 years. Basically an interest free, tax free loan. I'm curious how some of our staunchest pro public dollars into the arena feel about this funding model, I mostly like it except for the inability to sell the license for a profit.

Officials with the defending NBA champions acknowledged Wednesday that to get season tickets at the team's new privately financed $1 billion Chase Center, which is slated to open in 2019, fans will have to pay a fee for the right to buy those tickets.

While pricing of the licenses has not been revealed, a team official confirmed to ESPN that the number of seats dedicated for season-ticket holders will decrease from the 14,500 currently at Oracle Arena in Oakland to roughly 12,000 at Chase Center in San Francisco. Half of the tickets will come with a per-seat cost of $15,000 or less. The other half would cost more than that.

The Warriors would return the money the fan paid for the right to buy tickets after 30 years. That essentially means the personal seat license, which will be called a "membership," is acting as an interest-free, tax-free loan to the team for three decades.

Fans can transfer or give back the license before the 30 years are up, so they aren't required to commit to the full term, but they won't get their money back until Year 30.

The Toronto Raptors are the only other NBA team with personal seat licenses, which are offered only for their best seats and also include rights for Toronto Maple Leafs tickets. A majority of NFL teams use licenses, however.

The membership will be transferable, but unlike in the NFL, the licenses will not be allowed to be resold for a value above the original price paid minus the years used.

If a fan sells the membership, the team is made aware of the price. If the price falls short of the full price paid less the payments already made, the Warriors will make up the difference at the end of the 30-year period to the original owner.

The Warriors will let fans pay for memberships in installments, though those plans haven't been formalized.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...nses-new-arena