NFL Could Lose Its Only ‘Publicly-Owned’ Franchise With New Green Bay Packers Proposal

This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.

The Green Bay Packers have always been different from every other NFL team. More than 538,000 fans own over 5.2 million shares of the franchise, making the Packers the NFL’s only publicly owned team.

That ownership model has worked for decades. But as NFL team values continue to rise, some people have started to wonder if it can keep up. Teams owned by billionaires can raise huge amounts of money by selling small ownership stakes while still keeping control. The Packers do not have that option.

The discussion made sense after Packers president and CEO Ed Policy spoke in March about the financial gap between Green Bay and privately owned teams. His comments led Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio to look at what could happen if the Packers ever found it difficult to keep up financially.

Could The Packers’ Ownership Model Eventually Change?

Florio suggested that the Packers have one possible path if their current structure ever becomes unsustainable.

“Green Bay Packers, Inc. could, in theory, dissolve, with the assets of the corporation sold to an expansion franchise. The proceeds would then go to charity,” Florio wrote.

He also pointed out that the Packers’ Articles of Incorporation already cover that scenario. If Green Bay Packers, Inc. ever dissolves, the remaining profits and assets would go to the Green Bay Packers Foundation, which supports community programs and charitable causes.

Florio made it clear that such a move would only come under extreme circumstances. “It would be an option utilized as a last-ditch effort, if/when the ‘deep-pocketed owners’ to whom Policy referred become sufficiently rich to spend the Packers into oblivion,” he wrote.

A switch to private ownership could also benefit the NFL in another way.

Because the Packers operate as a publicly owned corporation, they release financial reports that offer a rare look at league revenue. Those reports help observers estimate how much money the NFL and its teams generate through shared revenue.

Florio believes that transparency would disappear if the Packers adopted a traditional ownership model.

“If the Packers convert from a publicly-owned corporation, the franchise’s books would be sealed shut,” Florio wrote. “There would be no way to know how much money any team makes, and no way to isolate the shared revenue and multiply it by 32 to know more about how much money the league is making.”

The discussion remains theoretical.