Packers shareholders get details on team’s finances and future

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - As training camp kicked off at Ray Nitschke Field down the street, leaders of the Green Bay Packers greeted thousands of team owners inside Lambeau Field for their annual shareholders meeting.

About 8,600 Packers shareholders, representing more than 1.6 million shares of Packers stock, were in attendance. A new Packers shareholder says the whole family made the trip to Lambeau Field from Milwaukee just to experience the annual event.

“It felt surreal. Really cool walking in, and I think I was way more excited. We are here, we are here!” shareholder Rachel Stagl exclaimed.

Soccer lines were still on the field from Saturday’s international soccer match, but football was top of mind at Lambeau Field Monday. General Manager Brian Gutekunst joked, “We’ve gotta get the markers and wrong stripes taken care of soon for the season.”

The shareholders chanted “Go Pack Go” at the start of the meeting. They broke into cheers later when Gutekunst said he negotiated a big deal with cornerback Jaire Alexander and applauded when president/CEO Mark Murphy mentioned MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

The team is planning rallies are being planned overseas for fans who go to the Packers game in London because their fans travel well. The Packers play the New York Giants on October 9.

Besides the team’s on-field accomplishments, Packers officials also touted their work off the field, including community outreach efforts, raising money for victims of the vehicle rampage at the Waukesha Christmas parade, and donating to create a Willie Davis financial trading room at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. CEO Murphy also noted the Packers are catching up with the Chicago Bears for the number of players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Last Friday, the team released its financial statements showing record revenue from the 2021-22 season. The Packers brought in $579 million from national and local revenue and, after $501.3 million in expenses, finished the fiscal year with a $77.7 million profit from its operations. Murphy said the team benefited from a 17th game and a primetime playoff game last season.

Around Lambeau Field, Murphy said much-needed upgrades to the concourse are underway; new video boards are coming, paid for with the latest Packers stock sale which ended earlier this year; and construction of an underground parking structure.

“Going to be a 4 or 5 year project, and we are on 4 or 5 phases. Really, grab-and-go stands, getting people in and out more quickly. Last year we could measure the impact and it was significant, transaction times a lot faster. And added more TVs and monitors so people can follow games even when out of seats,” Murphy said.

The team said it’s also committed to making mobile ticketing a better -- and quicker -- experience for fans coming to the game. They said new ticket-scanning pedestals are capable of 850 scans per minute (Murphy said they worked really well for this past weekend’s soccer game). But they also said it would help if fans came to the games earlier.

With all of the upgrades, Murphy isn’t too concerned about parking for the upcoming season. “That’s why we bought the land south, to make sure there’s more parking.”

Luckily, parking isn’t something 11-month-old shareholder Ashton will have to worry about anytime soon. “He is the shareholder. His uncle, Sam, got them,” dad Benjamin Brager said.

Neither does 12-year-old Hunter Legette, who explained, “My mom got me stock for Green Bay two months ago.” He’s just happy to be at Lambeau Field. “It was cool. I liked it ‘cause of the football trophy out in the middle and at a football stadium. Nothing not to like.”

“Quite a facility. It’s football Disneyland here,” Andy Huettl remarked. He was a proxy for his cousin, a longtime Packers shareholder. “He has a bad leg, so he gave them to me and I thought I’d check it out.”

Rachel and 7-and-a-half-year-old Oliva Stagl had the same idea as new shareholders but lifelong Packers fans who know a thing or two.

“Go Pack Go!” Olivia exclaimed.

“Some of her first words,” Rachel told us. “We taught the kids ‘touchdown,’ ‘Go Packers.’”

But the meeting did go a little long for the youngest shareholders.

“At first I was falling asleep, so we thought walking around and getting a snack is a best choice,” Olivia said.

Shareholders we talked with are just excited for another season at Lambeau Field. Each one we talked to, we asked what they expect out of this season, and they all had the same answer: the Super Bowl.

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