Skip to content

Equitable Distribution: Don’t Forget the “Rump” Assets 

September 13, 2024

There are actually two meanings for the word “rump”. The American one is known to all of us. But(t), the British use the term to describe a group of individuals who remain affiliated after the rest of group has departed.  

While watching a pre-season football game the topic of stadium licenses was introduced. For those who don’t follow the economics of sports, here’s what you need to know. They are called “Personal Seat License” (PSLs) and there is no agreement about when it started but the idea gained traction in the 1990s. It has caught on big in the National Football League but can also be found in a variety of professional and college settings including Penn State.

The idea is kind of like an “option.” You need to pay a fee for the right to purchase season tickets for the team you love. When you buy a single ticket to a game, chances are your “rump” is in the licensed property of an investor who owns the option to buy the tickets you have. When the idea first circulated, suffice to say that fans were outraged. But they still needed their live sports fix. Back then (the early 90s) the cost of the license ranged about $500 per seat.  

Well, a quarter center is a long time and today PSLs (called SBLs in Philadelphia) for prime seats come with a license fee that can exceed $50,000 per seat. Willing to sit in the corner of the Linc 30 rows back to watch the Philadelphia Eagles? The “license” is still over $11,000 a seat. Realize as well that these are assets that can be sold and ride the tides of value based on team performance.  

So, these are substantial assets that obviously have a history of appreciating over time. Meanwhile, they can be easily forgotten in the equitable distribution scrum over houses, pensions, crypto and airline miles. Typically, seats come in pairs since most fans aren’t big on sitting alone. Also, it’s not uncommon for the license to belong to the family business so that the expenses can be deducted under the category called “business development.” A seat license should be listed as miscellaneous assets of the business but on federal tax forms (Schedule L) they will be recorded at the price paid when the acquisition was made and no today’s value.

Most spouses know if their husbands have season tickets but those are transitory assets. The license is another story. It can sit dormant and its existence is often revealed in the disposition of an estate when the “die hard” fan is called to that stadium in the sky. But, the evidence is clear. These are assets today and they are marketable for substantial value.