The Green Bay Packers have just banked a cool $64.5 million in funding. No, it's not from a wealthy new minority owner or business magnate investor. It's thanks to thousands of Packers fans who took the opportunity to purchase shares of stock from the franchise's latest stock sale offering, according to the latest report from Pro Football Talk.
The Packers are uniquely structured among its NFL peers, and across all four major sports in the US for that matter, as it is the only community-owned franchise with over 300,000 stockholders. Nobody owns more than 4% of the organization and they're helmed by an executive committee with team president Mark Murphy as the primary decision-maker.
The team announced in November of last year that they would be offering up 300,000 additional shares of stock for $300 per share, which would amount to $90 million in founds raised to be used for ongoing construction projects in and around Lambeau Field. It's their sixth such offering in franchise history. With the sale scheduled to end next week, they've now raised over 70% of their max offering with some time to go.
“It's been 10 years since our last offering and we've been asked regularly by fans when the next opportunity will take place to become an owner of the Packers,” Murphy said when the team made the announcement in November. “For them and our next generation of fans who are ready, we're very pleased to welcome our newest shareholders.”
The Green Bay Packers “stock” isn't a stock in the traditional sense given that it doesn't appreciate, cannot be traded, and offers no dividends or decision-making opportunities for bringing back Aaron Rodgers. It's virtually a team collectible for nothing but bragging rights and an invite to an annual shareholders meeting with thousands of others.
But it seems as though owning a piece of the team is good enough for the Packers faithful who came out in droves to support the team.
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