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Only one National Football League team has an ownership structure that resembles a public company.
According to CNBC’s 2024 official NFL team valuation, the Green Bay Packers rank 12th among NFL teams with a valuation of US$6.3 billion and are the only publicly owned team among the four major professional sports leagues in North America. The team is owned entirely by shareholders, many of whom are Packers fans, and its structure was established more than 100 years ago.
According to statistics, the Packers have launched six stock offerings in 1923, 1935, 1950, 1997, 2011, and 2021, resulting in more than 538,000 people owning more than 5.2 million shares outstanding. Team 2024 Media Guide.
The shares pay no dividends, are not transferable except to children or relatives, and do not have any intrinsic market value. Shareholders can attend the team’s annual meeting and vote for the board of directors, but the team says owners will not receive any financial benefit from ownership. The only way for shareholders to access funds is to sell their shares back to the team, and even then, it’s for a percentage of the original share price.
In 2023, the team’s revenue will be $638 million, with advance profits of $128 million. The Packers are a nonprofit organization, and the only paid member of the team’s seven-person executive committee is the president.
The Packers’ annual revenue is primarily used to pay player fees, maintenance and marketing of Lambeau Field, and other expenses. Stock offerings over the years have been used to lift the team out of a precarious financial situation and to undertake larger renovations to Lambeau Field.
This unique structure makes the Packers one of the least interesting teams to newly approved private equity investors.
Shareholdings are capped at 200,000 shares per person – less than 4% of the team’s outstanding shares. Current rules allow approved private equity firms to own up to 10% of the franchise, but even if the Packers wanted one company to own that much of the team, it’s unlikely to attract private equity investors.
Since the frequency of stock issuance is very infrequent, The biggest obstacle to Packers fans owning a part of the team isn’t money, it’s timing.
When it was first issued in 1923, the price per share was $5. While offering prices starting in 2021 have risen to as high as $300 over the years, that’s still a drop in the bucket compared to today’s average NFL team valuation of $6.49 billion.
The unique ownership structure is one of several reasons why the Packers stand out in the NFL. Green Bay is the smallest television market among the 32 teams, and its level of tourism is not as high as other cities with NFL teams, such as Las Vegas, Miami, New York and Los Angeles.
As the team transitioned from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love, it also often drew the ire of other fans and organizations as it played out Long-term stability at the quarterback position.
On Friday, the Packers will face the Philadelphia Eagles led by Love, who recently signed a four-year, $220 million contract extension with the team.
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