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With exquisite timing, the sale took place just about one year before the market collapsed.  The total collapse of the market in the fall of 2008 and the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, left the Giants with a $300 hole in financing, which they turned to personal seat licenses to fill. Unfortunately, the Great Recession has negatively impacted the sale of PSLs for both the Giants and the Jets, who are also using PSLs as a financing mechanism to raise a portion of its share of the cost.  The Giants still have about 3,000 unsold Club Seats and about 40% of the suites remaining unsold.  The Jets numbers are probably similar but the club won't release any numbers publicly. 

 And with the economy's problems, it's not just the PSLs that the clubs are having problems selling.  Both clubs have several thousand seats remaining unsold for the 2009 season, tracking a trend seen in a number of other NFL cities.  According to the Sports Business Journal, as many as 12 teams may experience blackouts of home games this season as compared to only three last season.  Under NFL rules, a game must be blacked out in the market of the home team in the event the game is not sold out 72 hours in advance of kickoff.  Jacksonville has already conceded that all eight of its home games will not be sold out.  The three teams from last year, Oakland, Detroit and St. Louis are likely suspects again.  Added to the list this year are likely to be Kansas City, San Diego, Miami and perhaps Minnesota and the Jets.  The signing of Favre may take the Vikings off the list and the Jets new viral marketing campaign may work for them, as may the Dolphins increased marketing and new celebrity cache from its minority owners.  Still the impact of the Great Recession on the NFL fan base and the rise in ticket prices over the last several years have combined to price the game outside the reach of most fans.  If a way is not found to address this somehow before the economy turns around the number of blackouts will increase exponentially and the NFL will begin to look like a studio sport.

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