Thread: Did you know - Packers - NON Profit! - Public Company -

As this Favre thing carried on, ESPN mentioned a Share Holder meeting. I thought hmm that's intresting. To make a long story short I wanted to understand how the Packers are actually setup. Below are some pretty neat facts.


Did You Know.

1. The Packers were incorporated in 1923 as a private, non-profit, tax-exempt organization. Article I of their bylaws states, "this association shall be a community project, intended to promote community welfare...its purposes shall be exclusively charitable." The team can move only through dissolution, in which case the shareholders get only the $25 a share they put in. A board of directors, elected by the stockholders, manages the team.

2. The Packers are now the only publicly owned company with a board of directors in American professional sports (although other teams are directly owned by publicly traded companies.

3. Based on the original "Articles of Incorporation for the (then) Green Bay Football Corporation" put into place in 1923, if the Packers franchise were to have been sold, after the payment of all expenses, any remaining money would go to the Sullivan Post of the American Legion in order to build "a proper soldier's memorial." This stipulation was enacted to ensure the club remained in Green Bay and that there could never be any financial enhancement for the shareholders. At the November 1997 annual meeting, shareholders voted to change the beneficiary from the Sullivan-Wallen Post to the Green Bay Packers Foundation, which makes donations to many charities and institutions throughout Wisconsin.

4. Green Bay is the only team with this form of ownership structure in the NFL; such ownership is technically in direct violation of league rules, which stipulate a limit of 32 owners of one team and one of those owners having a minimum 30% stake. However, the Packers corporation was grandfathered when the NFL's current ownership policy was established, and are thus exempt.


The bottom line Packers exist as a community based company, who when sold or dissolved will give after expenses all profits to charity!

I gotta give it to the Packers they got some pretty sound Core Values. This setup would be very rare to setup in modern sports.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers

2. http://www.newrules.org/sports/packers.html

"Vikes" wrote:

The bottom line Packers exist as a community based company, who when sold or dissolved will give after expenses all profits to charity!

I don't buy that. Someone is lining their pockets & it's not going to the fans who bought stock in that company. The Packers are making money hand over fist. Where is it all going?

When they renovated Lambeau field, the bulk of those funds came from the public in the form of donations & a tax increase & only partially from team funds.

"singersp" wrote:

"Vikes" wrote:

The bottom line Packers exist as a community based company, who when sold or dissolved will give after expenses all profits to charity!

I don't buy that. Someone is lining their pockets & it's not going to the fans who bought stock in that company. The Packers are making money hand over fist. Where is it all going?

When they renovated Lambeau field, the bulk of those funds came from the public in the form of donations & a tax increase & only partially from team funds.

Well being their are a public company the books are open.

"singersp" wrote:

"Vikes" wrote:

The bottom line Packers exist as a community based company, who when sold or dissolved will give after expenses all profits to charity!

I don't buy that. Someone is lining their pockets & it's not going to the fans who bought stock in that company. The Packers are making money hand over fist. Where is it all going?

When they renovated Lambeau field, the bulk of those funds came from the public in the form of donations & a tax increase & only partially from team funds.

Operating expenses.

http://www.packers.com/history/fast_facts/stock_history/

Just goes to show how bright they are.... :

Hey, I've got some stock for you to buy, but you get NOTHING in return....Ya, OKAY, sign me up.....LMAO

"singersp" wrote:

"Vikes" wrote:

The bottom line Packers exist as a community based company, who when sold or dissolved will give after expenses all profits to charity!

I don't buy that. Someone is lining their pockets & it's not going to the fans who bought stock in that company. The Packers are making money hand over fist. Where is it all going?

When they renovated Lambeau field, the bulk of those funds came from the public in the form of donations & a tax increase & only partially from team funds.

As to where the money is going right now, they do a lot of stuff with it (link).
They have reserve funds, such as a $125 million plus 'franchise preservation fund.'
They also invest in things like land near the stadium.
That and they give great salaries and benefits to their executives.

Now, if the Packers were sold, its nice that their Articles of Incorporation say that the money would go to charity.
However, you'll notice that the articles of incorporation have already been changed to go to a different charity.
If there ever were a sale I can almost guarantee that they would be changed again so that the vast majority of the profits from the sale went to the stock holders.

"Overlord" wrote:

"singersp" wrote:

"Vikes" wrote:

The bottom line Packers exist as a community based company, who when sold or dissolved will give after expenses all profits to charity!

I don't buy that. Someone is lining their pockets & it's not going to the fans who bought stock in that company. The Packers are making money hand over fist. Where is it all going?

When they renovated Lambeau field, the bulk of those funds came from the public in the form of donations & a tax increase & only partially from team funds.

As to where the money is going right now, they do a lot of stuff with it (link).
They have reserve funds, such as a $125 million plus 'franchise preservation fund.'
They also invest in things like land near the stadium.
That and they give great salaries and benefits to their executives.

Now, if the Packers were sold, its nice that their Articles of Incorporation say that the money would go to charity.
However, you'll notice that the articles of incorporation have already been changed to go to a different charity.
If there ever were a sale I can almost guarantee that they would be changed again so that the vast majority of the profits from the sale went to the stock holders.

I did notice that they changed the charity portion. But I think the sprite of what they are trying to is keep the team from being moved or sold away from Green Bay. You are right it's possible they could try and postion the sale proceeds into a something other than a charity and change the bylaws.

"Overlord" wrote:

"singersp" wrote:

"Vikes" wrote:

The bottom line Packers exist as a community based company, who when sold or dissolved will give after expenses all profits to charity!

I don't buy that. Someone is lining their pockets & it's not going to the fans who bought stock in that company. The Packers are making money hand over fist. Where is it all going?

When they renovated Lambeau field, the bulk of those funds came from the public in the form of donations & a tax increase & only partially from team funds.

As to where the money is going right now, they do a lot of stuff with it (link).
They have reserve funds, such as a $125 million plus 'franchise preservation fund.'
They also invest in things like land near the stadium.
That and they give great salaries and benefits to their executives.

Now, if the Packers were sold, its nice that their Articles of Incorporation say that the money would go to charity.
However, you'll notice that the articles of incorporation have already been changed to go to a different charity.
If there ever were a sale I can almost guarantee that they would be changed again so that the vast majority of the profits from the sale went to the stock holders.

i was reading that they're freaking out about possible salary cap lift and that the $125 million plus 'franchise preservation fund' is going to be used for that. they're worried they won't be able to compete with no salary cap.

"scumpuke" wrote:

"Overlord" wrote:

"singersp" wrote:

"Vikes" wrote:

The bottom line Packers exist as a community based company, who when sold or dissolved will give after expenses all profits to charity!

I don't buy that. Someone is lining their pockets & it's not going to the fans who bought stock in that company. The Packers are making money hand over fist. Where is it all going?

When they renovated Lambeau field, the bulk of those funds came from the public in the form of donations & a tax increase & only partially from team funds.

As to where the money is going right now, they do a lot of stuff with it (link).
They have reserve funds, such as a $125 million plus 'franchise preservation fund.'
They also invest in things like land near the stadium.
That and they give great salaries and benefits to their executives.

Now, if the Packers were sold, its nice that their Articles of Incorporation say that the money would go to charity.
However, you'll notice that the articles of incorporation have already been changed to go to a different charity.
If there ever were a sale I can almost guarantee that they would be changed again so that the vast majority of the profits from the sale went to the stock holders.

i was reading that they're freaking out about possible salary cap lift and that the $125 million plus 'franchise preservation fund' is going to be used for that. they're worried they won't be able to compete with no salary cap.

thats definitely a possibility, i didn't even think of that.

"scumpuke" wrote:

"Overlord" wrote:

"singersp" wrote:

"Vikes" wrote:

The bottom line Packers exist as a community based company, who when sold or dissolved will give after expenses all profits to charity!

I don't buy that. Someone is lining their pockets & it's not going to the fans who bought stock in that company. The Packers are making money hand over fist. Where is it all going?

When they renovated Lambeau field, the bulk of those funds came from the public in the form of donations & a tax increase & only partially from team funds.

As to where the money is going right now, they do a lot of stuff with it (link).
They have reserve funds, such as a $125 million plus 'franchise preservation fund.'
They also invest in things like land near the stadium.
That and they give great salaries and benefits to their executives.

Now, if the Packers were sold, its nice that their Articles of Incorporation say that the money would go to charity.
However, you'll notice that the articles of incorporation have already been changed to go to a different charity.
If there ever were a sale I can almost guarantee that they would be changed again so that the vast majority of the profits from the sale went to the stock holders.

i was reading that they're freaking out about possible salary cap lift and that the $125 million plus 'franchise preservation fund' is going to be used for that. they're worried they won't be able to compete with no salary cap.

Heck I'm worried the Vikings will not be able to compete without a salary cap.