The Green Bay Packers are publically owned?? How does that work?

The Game Room
1

Who makes the decisions? For example, if there’s a free agent that the team wants, who goes to get him? Do the shareholders have to vote on it first? And where does the money for the team come from?

What about all the little decisions that a franchise has to make, from who to hire to manage the concession stands to how much to charge for beer. And if the team loses money, who’s getting hit in the wallet for that?

Do the shareholders also trade stock in some kind of Packers market, selling it when the team does well and the price is high and buying when its low?

Whoever’s making these hiring and firing decisions, how is that person determined?

2

Just like every other publicly traded company, they have a board of directors elected by the shareholders, who make the decisions.

3

(Packer shareholder here)

Facts on the Packer stock ownership can be found on their web site.

The team has sold stock on four separate occasions over the years; in the first three occasions (between 1923 and 1950), it was to keep the team solvent. The fourth sale, in 1997, was to raise funds to help renovate Lambeau Field (that’s when I got my share of stock). That last sale dramatically increased the number of shareholders in the team – from around 2,000 people to over 100,000.

The stock is “voting stock” – much like any stock, I get a proxy ballot in the mail once a year in order to vote for the board of directors, and I get an invitation to the shareholders meeting. But, as JSexton notes, shareholders don’t generally get involved in the day-to-day operations of any publically-held company, and the Packers are no exception. They have a board of directors, an executive committee, and a general manager, and that’s really who determines how the team is operated.

However, unlike most stock, it does not pay dividends, and there are significant limits on the transferrabilty of Green Bay Packer stock (the story has always been that, if you want to transfer your stock to anyone but a direct relative, the Packers have the right of first refusal to buy your stock from you). They have by-laws that limit how many shares any one person can own (to prevent any one person or group from gaining a controlling interest in the team). And, any profits from a sale of the team would benefit a non-profit foundation. All of this (plus, the TV contracts that the NFL has had with the networks since the 1960s, which are equally split among the teams) has managed to keep an NFL team in a city of only 100K or so people.

Where does the money come from to operate the team? From the (very large) NFL TV contract, from licensing agreements (all those hats, jerseys, etc.), from local sponsors of the team and their broadcasts, from ticket sales and concessions…and, since the renovation of Lambeau a decade ago, they’ve also made a fair amount of money from year-round activities in the stadium. This is pretty much the same as any NFL team; it’s just that most NFL teams have very wealthy owners who may be willing to put more money into them above and beyond the income that the team makes. The Pack maintains a reserve fund (in case of a rainy day). They’ve rarely been huge spenders in the free-agent market…but, then again, a lot of teams who are big spenders there have had little to show for it (I’m looking at you, Dan Snyder).

4

Actually, they have an Executive Committee of 7 people who do the heavy decision-making like hiring GM’s and such. The EC is elected by the Board of Directors, who in turn are elected by the stockholders.

Depends on the type of decision.

Most of the football decisions are made by the General Manager, currently Ted Thompson. He decides which free agents to sign (if he ever actually does) and has guys to work out the contracts.

No. That is delegated to the GM. The shareholders elect the Board of Directors, the Board elects the EC, and the EC delegates football decisions to the GM. At least that’s who it works in general.

Most of the operating expenses come from the profits and savings they made in prior years. All of the money the Packers makes goes back into the corporation. They don’t pay dividends, they don’t (generally) buy back stocks. They do have a nice reservoir of assets to handle down years, but there really haven’t been too many of those.

But when the Packers do have financial problems, they sell stock in the team. They’ve done that 4 times, in 1923 at the founding of it as a non-profit corporation; in 1935, when they went into receivership (lost a lot of money) and reorganized as the current Packers Inc.; in 1950 to raise more money for operations; and most recently in 1998 when they needed money to renovate and refurbish Lambeau field. They put heavy limitations on the stocks they issue, though.

Most non-football decisions are made by the EC, usually through the President and his minions.

They have a pool of money to cover short term loses. They rarely have that problem though, and have made money (around 20 million a year) for the last decade or so, although they did take a hit in 2000.

No. There are a great many restrictions on the stocks, like they must be offered back to the Packers at a lower price and cannot be resold. They can be transferred though, usually among family members. No dividends are paid.

As I said, most operating decisions are under the power of the President/CEO and the EC. They, in turn, turn most of the football decisionmaking over to the GM. The EC is elected by the Board, who are in turn elected by the shareholders. The Board has to approve the appointment of the President/CEO.

5

I blame you for not having a solid backup at LT or S. And for Tony Mandarich. Bastard!

6

Hee hee hee. Mandarich was before my tenure.

I joke that my single share of stock (which is, fundamentally, a $250 souvenir) is my right to be able to yell at the TV about the poor performance of my employees. :wink:

7

They’ve always said that, because they don’t have a wealthy owner to fall back on, they need to be smarter in how they spend their money. It seems like, as a general rule, they’re pretty good at that (arguments about where Ted Thompson has been willing to spend on the roster aside).

In recent years, the team has consistently said that their public ownership doesn’t prevent them from being competitive…but this assumes that the competitive situation doesn’t change.

For example…if the TV contract was no longer split equally among the teams (i.e., if it became more like MLB, with individual teams having individual local TV contracts), that’d have a huge impact. Another example was the new stadiums built in the 1980s and 1990s, which had lots of luxury boxes and other money-making amenities (and which teams don’t need to split equally, unlike the TV contract). The Packers argued that this necessitated renovating Lambeau in order to remain competitive, and were able to convince enough of the general public of this (between the stock sale and getting a sales-tax increase in Brown County to help fund it) to get it done.

8

Aww, man, I’m so jealous… I wanna buy Patriots stock. :frowning:

9

For a while you could have owned shares of the Celtics.

Sort of.

10

And that right there makes the investment completely worthwhile, a bargain frankly. O how I wish I could take the same moral high ground when I rant and bitch.

11

So the shareholders can’t get dividends and can’t benefit should the team be sold? Is it really just a sort of gift to the team, with the addition that you can vote for the BoD, who are three steps away from the actual coaching staff?

12

Pretty much – and, the way ownership is set up, it’s hard to imagine how the team could be sold. Each time that they’ve had a stock sale, it’s been explictly stated that it’s being done to raise funds to keep the team viable.

13

Pretty much, you are buying the right to say you are a co-owner of the Green Bay Packers, a piece of paper to hang on the wal, and that’s about it…

14

I could live with that.
-dogbutler, Wisconsin born, Cheesehead for life

15

I feel for ya, man. I’ve been down here in Bears country for 20 years now, because this is where the job is. :stuck_out_tongue:

16

You’re also buying one vote on major decisions about the team. That’s something that, say, Seattle basketball fans and Cleveland and Baltimore football fans would have liked to have.

(And is of course the reason the Packers are still in Green Bay).