Three words on the minds of longtime Denver Broncos season-ticket holders.

Personal seat licenses.

Broncos team president Damani Leech confirmed they are likely to be introduced in 2031 when a privately funded stadium is expected to open at Burnham Yard. A personal seat license (PSL) is a one-time fee that allows a season-ticket holder to purchase a seat at the stadium.

The reported PSL cost range at other NFL venues, depending on seat location, is anywhere from less than $1,000 to well over $10,000. There are currently more than 20 NFL stadiums with PSL ticket policies.

“Every stadium in the last 10-plus years that has been built, there have been PSLs issued,” Leech said on Aug. 1. “So, it seems like a pretty likely thing to happen. But we haven’t made any formal decisions on that.”

Jamie Teumer is not surprised. He’s still uncertain about the future.

Teumer attended his first Broncos game at the original Mile High Stadium in the early 1970s. He is now president of the Denver Broncos Quarterback Club. Teumer has been at games regularly now for 30-plus years in seats all over the stadium.

Teumer currently sits at the club level at Empower Field. He wonders what a PSL might mean for the future of his season tickets and everyone in Broncos Country.

“To the average fan, it’s going to be a big deal when they all of a sudden give you this bill,” Teumer said. “Then the question is: How are they going to do it? Can you pay over time? Do you have to pay with interest? Is it going to be a lump sum? Things like that. I think that will be the biggest question for a lot of people.”

The fee at SoFi Stadium, home to the Stan Kroenke-owned Los Angeles Rams, is called a stadium seat license (SSL). The cost ranges anywhere from about $1,000 in the upper deck to more than $200,000 in the front row, according to pslscout.com.

Kevin Demoff is a Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) executive and longtime team president of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams. Demoff spoke with The Denver Gazette last September about how fans ultimately benefit from SSLs — despite a significant upfront cost.

“Nearly every stadium built over the last 25 years has had some kind of seat license component to it. Whether it was 100% privately financed or 100% publicly financed, I think fans come to understand the benefits of seat licenses at the stadium,” Demoff said. “For example, at SoFi Stadium, it gives you first access to every concert that comes in. First access to Super Bowl tickets. First access to World Cup and Olympic tickets. There’s a huge value that comes to a seat license aside from just getting season tickets.”

The cost of fandom is already steep without a PSL.

The annual price of a Broncos season ticket for the 2025 season ranged between $840 and $3,000, per the Broncos team website. The Broncos have a home sellout streak that dates back to 1970. There are also more than 105,000 people on the waiting list for season tickets as of last year. Will introducing PSLs at a new stadium shorten that list?

The Bills will open their new digs, Highmark Stadium, this fall in Orchard Park, N.Y., with PSLs required for season-ticket holders. Despite initial pushback over high prices — reportedly between $8,000 and $50,000 — the Bills sold out of PSLs in December with 75% of their current season-ticket holder base returning.

“Any fan base is always going to have a little bit of a knee-jerk reaction to the concept of seat licenses. That’s been true in every NFL city over the past three decades,” Demoff said. “But what I think is most important is that these are commonplace vehicles in the NFL, and quite frankly, now in many arenas to help fund construction, and they provide benefits way beyond the team, and ultimately, they’re part of an experience that is going to be dramatically upgraded for your fans in a new building.”

The Broncos have made no formal announcement regarding PSLs in a new stadium. Burnham Yard is still the preferred site as a community benefits agreement and other planning steps are ongoing. Teumer, the longtime Broncos season-ticket holder, is hopeful that the next stadium won’t lose that Mile High magic he finds every NFL game day at Empower Field.

“When they moved from the previous stadium into the current stadium, I think that it took a little bit of time to regain some of that aura or feeling they had,” Teumer said. “It depends on how they do it again. I think it will quickly pick up that feel. But it may take a little bit of time. … It’s a very unique experience.”