By Andrea Pigneri
Games at Lambeau Field have been sold out for over 30 consecutive seasons. Streets are literally deserted for three hours on autumn Sunday afternoons.
The waiting list for season tickets is 36,000 names long for seats in a stadium that holds 60,000.Green Bay’s metropolitan area is home to fewer than 200,000 people, yet the Packers rank in the top 20 percent of all professional teams in terms of franchise value.
Although the Packers may not be the number one team in the league, they certainly have some of the most loyal fans and plenty of financial stability. Along with this, the Packers have become one of those classic, historical teams that are highly revered in the town of Green Bay and across America. What is the secret to this unique and coveted occurrence? It is all about ownership.
Green Bay is very unique in that the team is owned by its fans. According to their official web site, 112,015 different people all own stock in the Packers. This group of people stays large and diverse because there is a cap as to how much stock each person can own to ensure that no one person or group will attain too much power. All of these stockholders entirely fund the Packers, and because dividends are not paid out, all the money generated by the team is put back into the team.
All stockholders also have a say in team affairs. It works much like our own American government. Every year in July, stockholders arrive at Lambeau Field to elect a board of directors.
This is like a citizen voting on a president; the corresponding party that the voter chooses correlates with a vote on which representative is to go into the Electoral College. Next, the boards of directors choose a seven member Executive Committee, which is made up of three members at large, a secretary, a treasurer, a vice president and a president. This step is similar to the Electoral College picking a president.
This final group that is selected, the Executive Committee, resides over the Packers like Congress and the President reside over America.
Just as this has proven to work well in delivering the wants of the American citizens, it has proven the same for all owners of the Packers.
This system is a very successful method for running a football team, as well as highly beneficial to even non-football fans. The reasoning for this is that professional teams that are owned by few are always looking for anything to bring in a higher profit.
When competing cities try and buy out a team, the city that currently has the team has to immediately spend more money on the team to attempt to keep the revenue maker at home. Usually the money is pulled from government funds, and it can be as much as $500 million a year.
Fortunately, this does not happen in Green Bay, and they serve as a great example to all. Due to the fact that the ones in total control of the entire Packer enterprise are the fans, the team never moves anywhere. They want their team to stay at home and generate revenue for Green Bay only. Also, because of stocks and other business bringing in all funding for the Packers, there is no need to reach into tax dollars. It is a beautiful win-win situation for this football team and Green Bay.
Clearly, it is highly beneficial for everyone when a team is owned by its fans.
Fortunately the Green Bay Packers are present to set a great example for all sports teams. Hopefully this will catch on to every team, and loyalty will finally come back to professional sports.
