New Packers Owner

This Minnesota Vikings fan is a new owner of the Green Bay Packers. For the sixth time in franchise history, the “publicly” owned team out of itty-bitty Green Bay is selling stock in the team. It’s a fund-raising scheme to generate the cash to help fund improvements on Lambeau Field. More specifically, the team wants HD video boards and concourse improvements. On the surface, it’s a terrible use of one’s supposedly disposable income. It’s more donation than investment. All I get for $335 is a certificate. I do have a “seat” at the annual shareholder meeting held at Lambeau Field each July. I do get to vote on the Packers board of directors and other proposals during those meetings. It would be a blast to bring a whole lot of purple to the festivities in Lambeau. 

To be able to say that “I own the Green Bay Packers” is worth every penny of that $335. 

It’s always been a stretch to say that the Packers are a publicly owned NFL team. The public can buy stock in the team but it really ends there. That Packers stock can’t be traded, sold, or whatever is typically done with stock. Every stock sale, every stock purchase is a pumped-up version of a bake sale. The Packers joined the APFA/NFL in 1921. As with all of the team’s in that first decade of somewhat organized professional football, the Packers had to scrape and scramble to survive. It wasn’t an easy existence. Due to the size of Green Bay, the Packers had to scrape and scramble more than many teams. As the only small town team to survive those early years, the Packers have always had to fight to keep up with big city teams. On six occasions, the team turned to their fans for support.

1923

1935

1950

1997

2011

2021

1923-shares of stock were first sold to establish the Green Bay Packers as a corporation. 

1935-a second stock offering was needed to rescue the club from receivership. The Green Bay Football Corporation was then reorganized as Green Bay Packers, Inc.  

1950-a third stock offering was held to prevent the team from becoming insolvent or moving out of Green Bay in the face of competition from the All-America Football Conference. 

1997-a fourth offering of 400,000 shares was held to raise funds for the redevelopment of Lambeau Field.

2011-a fifth offering was held to raise funds for the expansion of Lambeau Field. By his offering, the unique opportunity to “own” stock in the Packers had caught on. Demand exceeded expectations. The original offering of 250,000 share limit was increased by 30,000. 99% of the shares were purchased online. A revelation!

The first three offerings were done for survival purposes. The final two were for Lambeau touch-ups. 

I always found interesting the 47-year gap between the first three sales and the last three sales. Perhaps the wildly successful Lombardi years brought in so much money that the Packers didn’t need to turn to their fans for assistance. 

The Packers are unique. They have no obscenely rich owner. They make a bunch of money as all NFL teams do. That money goes back into the running of the team. For anything extra, like stadium work, the team turns to fans. I doubt that this would work anywhere but Green Bay. In return, Packers fans don’t have to worry about an obscenely rich owner bolting with the team for some place like Los Angeles. 

For the new HD video boards and concourse improvements, the Packers are offering 300,000 shares in the team at $300 a share. The offering is until February 25 or until they run out of shares. If all goes as hoped, $90 million will be raised. That will go toward the $250 million price tag for the stadium work. During the first three hours of the stock sale, the Packers sold 33,000 shares. By the end of the first day, 83,000 shares were sold. That’s $25 million new Packer money. $300 of which came from this Vikings fan.

I own the Green Bay Packers.