This is an updated artist's rendering of the proposed new stadium. (Tom Gannam/AP)

To get the best seats in the new Cardinals stadium, you'll have to pony up a one-time fee of $2,000 to $7,500 on top of the costs of holding season tickets.

The sweetest seats in the new birdhouse - designed to get you as close to the action as possible - will likely go to current season ticket holders at Busch Stadium.

They have until March 2 to commit to the new seating arrangement, Cardinals officials said Tuesday. If all the seats are not reserved by season ticket holders, other fans will get a shot at them.

Details of the seating arrangement, referred to as the Ballpark Founders Program, are in the mail to the 19,000 Cardinals season ticket holders, Cardinals officials said. The program is designed to bring in $40 million to help the team build the $387.5 million ballpark south of Busch Stadium.

The Founders Program is similar to the personal seat licenses sold by the Rams. But there are key differences:

Only 10,300 of the 46,000 seats will be reserved for the Cardinals' program, while nearly all the seats at what is now the Edward Jones Dome were sold as a condition to bring the Rams to St. Louis from Los Angeles. Cardinals fans will be able to buy season tickets in other parts of the new stadium without a personal seat license.

The Cardinals are making their version of the personal seat license refundable under certain conditions. Those who decide they no longer want their license can sell it back to the Cardinals for a full refund if they do so within 12 to 20 years of buying it. After 20 years, license holders will get only a partial refund.

The Cardinals are not requiring the full price of the seat license upfront, giving the buyer four years to pay for it. Like the Rams PSLs, the buyer can sell or transfer ownership to someone else.

Ticket prices for Founders seats in the first two seasons - 2006 and 2007 - would range from $46 to $170 a game.

Cardinals President Mark Lamping said that while the best seats in the new park come with elevated costs, cheap seats will still be available. For example, tickets for bleacher seats at Busch are currently $11. In the new stadium, bleacher seats would cost $12. Infield terrace box seats would increase to $26 from $22.

Current season ticket holders are to receive in the mail this week a packet explaining the Founders Program and how to apply for season tickets in the new ballpark. New seat assignments for season ticket holders who join the Founders Program will be decided by July 11. Season ticket holders who do not participate in the program will know where they are sitting by the end of the year.

All fans, regardless of whether they commit to a permanent seat in the new ballpark, are being urged by Cardinals owners to go on the team's Web site - www.stlcardinals.com - and vote for either green or red as the color of the new seats.

William DeWitt III, Cardinals vice president for business development, said that after the team unveiled revised renderings of the new ballpark last month with green seats, many fans said, "Where is the sea of red?"

So the Cardinals have posted two renderings - one with red seats similar to Busch and the other with green, paying homage to Sportsman's Park. The Cardinals will order the seat that gets the most online votes.

Although site work has begun, a formal groundbreaking ceremony is set for 11 a.m. Jan. 17 between Busch Stadium and Highway 40 (Interstate 64). The public is invited to come and have photos taken with a St. Louis Cardinals hard hat on and silver shovel in hand. Former and current Cardinals players are expected to attend.

Pulitzer Inc., which owns the Post-Dispatch, and Pulitzer's chairman, Michael E. Pulitzer, are part-owners of the Cardinals. Their combined stake is slightly less than 4 percent.

Reporter Doug Moore
E-mail: dmoore@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-622-3580