Green Bay Packers, Inc.

The Don Hutson Center

Green Bay Packers, Inc. is the official name of the publicly held nonprofit corporation that owns the Green Bay Packers football franchise of the National Football League (NFL).

The Packers are the only publicly owned franchise in the NFL.[1] Rather than being the property of an individual, partnership, or corporate entity, they are held as of 2015 by 360,584 stockholders. No one is allowed to hold more than 200,000 shares,[2] which represents approximately four percent of the 5,011,557 shares currently outstanding.[3] It is this broad-based community support and non-profit structure[4] which has kept the team in Green Bay for nearly a century in spite of being the smallest market in all of North American professional sports.

Green Bay is the only team with this public form of ownership structure in the NFL, grandfathered when the NFL's current ownership policy stipulating a maximum of 32 owners per team, with one holding a minimum 30% stake, was established in the 1980s.[5] As a publicly held nonprofit, the Packers are also the only American major-league sports franchise to release its financial balance sheet every year.

Board of Directors

Green Bay Packers, Inc., is governed by a seven-member Executive Committee elected from a 45-member board of directors. It consists of a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary and three members-at-large; only the president is compensated. Responsibilities include directing corporate management, approving major capital expenditures, establishing broad policy, and monitoring management performance.

The team's elected president normally represents the Packers in NFL owners meetings. During his time as coach Vince Lombardi generally represented the team at league meetings in his role as GM, except at owners-only meetings, where president Dominic Olejniczak appeared.

Shareholder rights

Even though it is referred to as "common stock" in corporate offering documents, a share of Packers stock does not share the same rights traditionally associated with common or preferred stock. It does not include an equity interest, does not pay dividends, can not be traded, has no securities-law protection, and brings no season ticket purchase privileges. All shareholders receive are voting rights, an invitation to the corporation's annual meeting, and an opportunity to purchase exclusive shareholder-only merchandise.[4] Shares of stock cannot be resold, except back to the team for a fraction of the original price. While new shares can be given as gifts, transfers are technically allowed only between immediate family members once ownership has been established.[3]

Stock sales

There have been five stock issues over the history of the Packers organization:

In addition to being publicly held, the Packers organization also enjoys substantial support directly from its community. In 1956, voters of the city of Green Bay approved funding to construct a new municipally owned stadium. As with its predecessor, it was called City Stadium. On September 11, 1965, it was renamed Lambeau Field.

Green Bay Packers Foundation

The team created the Green Bay Packers Foundation in December 1986. It assists in a wide variety of activities and programs benefiting education, civic affairs, health services, human services and youth-related programs.

At the team's 1997 annual stockholders meeting the foundation was designated in place of a Sullivan-Wallen Post soldiers memorial as recipient of any residual assets upon the team's sale or dissolution.[3]

References

  1. "Green Bay Packers – Executive Committee". Retrieved May 19, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Shareholders". Green Bay Packers. January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Shareholder History & Financial History" (PDF). Green Bay Packers. January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Saunders, Laura (13 January 2012). "Are the Green Bay Packers the Worst Stock in America?". The Wall Street Journal.
  5. Kaplan, Daniel (October 26, 2009). "NFL pares ownership rule". SportsBusiness Daily. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
  6. 1 2 "Packers plan fifth stock sale". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 1, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  7. "Green Bay Packers 2011 Common Stock Offering Document" (PDF).
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