Yahoo! Sports has a great article on the finances of the Green Bay Packers. All NFL teams except the Packers are privately owned. With Green Bay being community owned, they lay open their books for their shareholders to see.
The Packers took in $247.9 million in total revenue, a 3 percent increase over the previous year. That figure was boosted by a 9 percent increase in money from national sources, offsetting a $5 million decrease in local revenue pinned largely on lagging souvenir shop sales.
Expenses were up 4 percent to $227.8 million. That includes $138.7 million in player costs, an increase of almost 11 percent from the previous year.
Rising player costs and sagging local revenue are disturbing trends to Packers officials. Since 2006, Murphy says 80 percent of the Packers’ increased revenues have gone to players.
And Murphy says other teams servicing significant debt on new stadiums are in even worse shape.
“I think that’s one of the things that we all hope to correct in the current negotiations,” Murphy said. “We want to reach an agreement with the players. We want a new agreement that’s fair to the players and allows us to grow the game.”
The Packers’ profit from operations was $20.1 million, down from $21.4 million the previous year. The franchise’s net income—including a substantial drop in investment income last year, plus taxes and other considerations—was $4 million, down from $23.4 million the previous year.
This is a fun fact as well
The team’s season ticket renewal rate fell by a fraction but remains a staggering 99.4 percent. That means 192 people who put their names on the team’s waiting list in the 1970s will be able to buy season tickets; most years, 75 people or fewer come off the list, which currently numbers approximately 81,000.
So if I sign up now, Mark’s grandchildren will have a chance to be Green Bay Packer’s season ticket holders.
Interesting perspective on the state of professional sports in the U.S. from several points. First, from the point that this is the smallest market of any kind in the U.S. and that they are still making a profit, but, because they are owned by shareholders, those shareholders are expecting a profit. That leads to a second point, what will Green Bay do in regards to the players to continue to make a profit and how will that affect other teams player negotiations. Third, are many of the other teams tax write-off havens for wealthy owners and how long will the Obama administration tolerate that. More food for thought. Interesting year coming up. Go Lions!
Brian, I think part of their profit comes from being community owned. In the CFL, the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Eskimos are community owned and they get fanatical fan support because they really are the HOME team. There is no owner to hate and I think it leads to better managed teams. I think of the Detroit Lions (we grew up getting Detroit cable which makes them a favorite team by default) and wonder what decent ownership from the football side could have done in that market but in many ways the Ford family seems out of touch to what the fans feel there. Same in Buffalo where they are taking a home game away each season and giving it to Toronto. I just can’t see the Green Bay Packers hiring a Matt Millen type guy or moving a game away from their fans. Their fans would not tolerate it.