Charlotte FC’s new sponsor is paying some PSL costs for fans at BoA Stadium. How it’ll work

Charlotte FC has a new sponsor that will mitigate the Personal Seat License cost for season-ticket holders in five sections at Bank of America Stadium.

The Major League Soccer expansion club announced Wednesday that Centene Corp. will become the club’s official health insurance partner, joining Ally Bank and Bojangles as sponsors ahead of Charlotte FC’s inaugural 2022 season. Centene will cover the costs of Personal Seat License (PSL) fees for 1,900 seats in an area at the stadium to be named the Centene Community Section. That revenue will be used to help fund Charlotte FC’s community initiatives. Here’s how it will work.

First, what is a PSL?

A PSL fee is a one-time payment for season-ticket holders to guarantee exclusive, long-term ownership rights for a specific seat in addition to other benefits through the club. The PSL fee for seats in the Centene Community Section is $350, meaning that the company will contribute an estimated $665,000 to Charlotte FC’s community initiatives by covering those costs for fans.

Charlotte FC sold 60 season tickets in the Centene Community Section the same day as the sponsorship announcement and anticipates selling out seats in that area before the end of the year, Charlotte FC president Nick Kelly told The Observer on Thursday. Costs for those seats is $630 without the PSL fee, which is the cheapest season-ticket option excluding tickets for the Supporters Section, which cost $486 and do not require a PSL fee. Fans in the Supporters Section are expected to stand the entire match.

Charlotte FC introduced a PSL-based pricing model in the winter, becoming the first MLS club to do so and inflaming many fans hoping for a cheaper season-ticketing structure. The partnership with Centene provides an alternative for fans seeking a cheaper ticket without the PSL fee (and its accompanying benefits). Charlotte FC has also not yet released its single-match ticket prices.

“It’s an entry level product to be a season-ticket holder,” Kelly said of the Centene Community Section tickets. “You’re not getting the full benefits of being a season-ticket holder, but it is an affordable price point for you to get in the door, for you to experience it, to get an understanding of what game day is like.”

Charlotte’s season-ticket package includes 17 home matches, plus an additional Charlotte FC match to be determined. PSL fees range from $350 to $900.

How can fans get season tickets without PSLs?

The Centene Community Section consists of seats in sections 201-203, 255 and 256, which are located behind the west end zone at Bank of America Stadium, which is undergoing a renovation project to outfit it with soccer-specific enhancements. Fans interested in sitting in those sections are encouraged to fill out a form on Charlotte FC’s website. Seats will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Kelly said that less than 50 existing accounts in those areas were impacted by the announcement, and that Charlotte FC’s ticketing office has been in contact with those account holders regarding the changes. Options for existing ticket holders in those sections included the PSL fee getting credited to their account and retaining their seats, or relocating elsewhere in the stadium with no up-charge.

New fans seeking seating in that area will get season-ticket member benefits, but they won’t get the PSL benefits, meaning priority seating for playoffs and thus no guarantee that they’ll have the same seat for playoffs. There is also no guarantee that they’ll get the same seat next season.

“I think there’s just a little more volatility in this product than there is with the traditional PSL (seat) we have,” Kelly said. “And the reason we built this was originally was for the fact that we wanted to reinvest all the revenue that comes in on the PSL side with Centene into the community program and we want it to be tangible.”

Where does the revenue go?

Centene and Charlotte FC announced three community initiatives that PSL revenue will be invested into at the club: The Greater Goals initiative, Meals on the Move and Pitches for Progress.

Greater Goals provides students at 22 Title I elementary schools in the Charlotte area with free after-school soccer and literacy programming. Meals on the Move will provide meals to families and individuals in neighborhoods in need, and Pitches for Progress is the club’s initiative to install turf mini soccer fields in under-resourced neighborhoods throughout the Carolinas.

Ally and Bojangles previously committed to involvement with Charlotte FC’s Greater Goals and Pitches for Progress programs, and Kelly said that he sees Charlotte FC’s early partnerships continuing to align with newer, local companies looking to activate in the community.

“There are a lot of established brands in the (Charlotte/Carolina) market,” Kelly said. “The Panthers have been here 25-plus years, the Hornets, even competing with NASCAR, and we do feel like the new-kid-on-the-block type of mentality. We talk about it that way because we aren’t established. We still have to prove ourselves, so honestly we’re aligning with brands like that.”

Centene is a St. Louis-based healthcare service company that is in the process of building its East Coast headquarters in Charlotte at University Research Park. The site is expected to open next year. Charlotte FC and Centene expressed a commitment to community advancement in the partnership announcement.

“I think we want people to realize that the money that would have been spent for $350 (PSL fees) on a seat is going into these three programs, so that’s a good message for Centene and for us to know tangibly how much is getting reinvested,” Kelly said.

What else to know before first kick?

Through the multi-year partnership deal with Charlotte FC, Centene will be featured on the sleeve of first team game jerseys, the front of first team training jerseys and on Charlotte FC’s Academy team uniforms. Ally will occupy the space on the front of Charlotte FC game jerseys, and Bojangles will not be featured on Charlotte FC’s uniforms. That partnership focuses on location-based activations at Bank of America Stadium and Bojangles restaurants.

Although there is no more space Charlotte FC can sell for sponsorship on the MLS jerseys, Kelly said that the club will look to announce 10 to 12 more partners before the 2022 season. A uniform unveiling is expected in December.

The team confirmed reports that it recently sold season tickets for 15,000 seats, which is half the capacity Charlotte FC is aiming to average at home matches (30,000 fans) at the 75,000-seat stadium. Kelly said earlier this year that Charlotte FC is aiming to host at least 74,000 fans at a single match, an MLS record, in its first year. He said Thursday that he feels confident the team will be in the top three among MLS clubs in ticket sales by the time the season starts. The 2022 MLS schedule has not been announced.

“We’re confident we’ll get to our number and that’s excluding any last-minute rush to buy,” Kelly said. “We’ve done all this (15,000 season tickets sold) without unveiling a uniform or announcing a designated player or any of those types of things, so that’s why we feel pretty confident about where we’re at.”

Charlotte FC this week added its eighth player, Ecuadorian central midfielder Jordy Alcívar, and the club is looking to sign a few more players before the expansion draft, which typically is held in December, although a date has not been announced. Kelly said that Charlotte FC is aiming to reach 10 to 12 total players on its roster before then. The frenzy of free agency will pick up this winter.

Players are expected to report to training with the club in January.