In the Ravens’ final regular season game, cornerback Nate Wiggins intercepted a Cleveland Browns pass and raced into the end zone. He didn’t stop there, though, leaping into the the first row of stands and sitting, momentarily, within the clutches of Baltimore’s front-row faithful.

“When he jumped, I thought, ‘Oh! He’s jumping!” said fan Karen Jones, gesturing to a bruise she’s proud to have from her brush with the standout Ravens rookie.

For a moment, Jones grabbed onto Wiggins’ shoulder pads. Her daughter, Hayley Boyle Sparr, was in the thick of it, too, as a host of Ravens celebrated around them.

It was a memorable moment with the team they’ve long loved, but, such a personal celebration is unlikely to be possible for them next year. As part of a three-year renovation, M&T Bank Stadium will soon add on-field suites behind the west end zone, which will relocate some season ticket holders like Jones.

Jones, an attorney in Baltimore County, has had season tickets to every year of Ravens football, dating to Memorial Stadium, and she’s always had a front-row spot at M&T Bank Stadium. But to make way for the suites, the first seven rows in some west end zone sections will be removed, pushing her tickets back. Her new seats will be where the eighth row currently is — the first row of stadium seats, but behind the deluxe suites.

She will still have season tickets, and she still loves the Ravens. But they won’t be the same seats her late mother sat in, and she won’t necessarily be surrounded by the same ticket holders she’s sat with for decades.

“I hate to say that I was heartbroken when they called me, but I was heartbroken. I’m not even sure I’m over it yet,” Jones said ahead of Saturday’s playoff win over the Steelers.

The Ravens are in the midst of a nearly $500 million renovation, which will be largely funded by the state. The Maryland Stadium Authority, which owns the stadium and leases it to the Ravens, has issued bonds and borrowed money to finance about $430 million and the Ravens are expected to pay for a portion of the improvements, as well.

Last offseason, the Ravens unveiled several stadium upgrades, such as a two-story beer hall and the Blackwing, posh midfield suites that hold about 30 people each and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to reserve for a season.

Renovations ahead of the 2025 season will feature a plaza on the stadium’s north side which will serve as the venue’s “Grand Entrance.” It will include a concert venue, a sports bar that the Ravens say will become the “premier pre-game destination,” as well as a retail space and a history display. The improvements will also add premium, field-level clubs and seating, such as the new west end zone suites, which follows an NFL trend of building out more premium seating for top-paying customers.

Construction comes in roughly six-month installments to avoid interrupting the NFL season. The next round of renovations is expected to begin Feb. 6, said Ravens spokesperson Chad Steele, but is subject to change.

After the 2023 season, the Ravens “collaborated with impacted fans” in the west end zone to identify new seats for them, Steele said.

Season ticket holders who will be relocated said the Ravens offered to buy back each fan’s “permanent seat license,” which grants an individual exclusive rights to season tickets for a particular seat, or to relocate fans to another spot. Fans were complimentary of those in the Ravens ticketing department, who worked with them to identify future seats they’d enjoy, but were frustrated by the reality of losing seats they’d long had.

Jones and others especially soaked in Saturday’s win over the Steelers, given that it may be the final game before their seats are removed ahead of the 2025 season. (The Ravens play Sunday in a playoff game in Buffalo and would not host again this season unless they win and the No. 1 seed Kansas City Chiefs lose to the Houston Texans.)

“We took it all in last night,” Jones said Sunday.

Bill Paulshock, like Jones, has had season tickets on the west end zone’s front row since the stadium opened, and he snapped a flurry of photos Saturday to document what might have been a last hurrah. He and his friends even took a selfie, from the front row, with an on-field security staffer they have gotten to know over the years.

Paulshock is upset by the changes to his seating arrangements, but he’s also torn. It’s easy to hear it in his voice.

He understands that the Ravens operate a profit-seeking business and that ritzy suites will likely drive more revenue. But Paulshock, who runs Bill’s Seafood in Baltimore County, is also disappointed that he and others will no longer have the same permanent seat licenses — he says, stressing the word “permanent” — that they purchased more than 25 years ago.

“You see their children grow up,” he said of fans in neighboring seats. “You see some of them pass. You meet their friends, their family members.”

Built with state money in the 1990s, M&T Bank Stadium has been improved with both public and team funds. The Ravens have contributed about $250 million into the stadium over the years.

But this round of upgrades will primarily be publicly funded, and it frustrates Paulshock that a state-financed project will go toward deluxe areas that will be expensive to access.

“Public funds should be for the people,” he said.

He paid $750 for his permanent seat license more than 25 years ago and now pays about $139 per game, per ticket to be front row — which he admits is a fantastic deal. Trying to sit in a suite, he said, would not be financially feasible for him.

Still, Paulshock has been “truly lucky” to have had the seats for more than 25 years and he will be back next season, sitting behind the new suites. He’s lost sleep, he says, over the fact that his new seat will take the place of another season ticket holder, who will, in domino fashion, move into other sections.

Aaron Kluttz has been a Baltimore football fan long enough to have attended the 1976 Steelers-Colts playoff game, where a single-engine plane crashed into Memorial Stadium following the event. The Kluttz name, like family members of Jones and Paulshock, is included on a wall of original season ticket holders located outside the stadium.

Next year, the Baltimore County resident won’t have the same seats in Section 139’s eighth row, however. To make room for other relocated ticket holders, he will instead sit a couple of sections over and six rows back.

He realizes the Ravens want to make more money, he said, and he’s appreciative that Baltimore has an NFL team at all “because for 13 years we didn’t, and that wasn’t fun.” But he also said having his season tickets relocated felt “pretty crappy.”

“We’re gonna miss it, that’s for sure,” he said.

Paulshock is bothered by the change, but it hasn’t dulled his fervor for the Ravens: “We love the game, we love the team, shit, we love the owner.”

A couple of days before the Steelers game, Paulshock explained his bittersweet emotions about the seat saga. But as he awaited kickoff on a freezing Saturday evening, Paulshock was single-minded. It was all about the Ravens, his team, beating their rivals in the playoffs.

“What a way, if it is our last game here [in these seats], to end it against them guys,” he said. “We’re gonna kick their ass.”