Packers' stock

[Yankee_In_TX]

Errr, am I the only one who does not understand this?


From Packers.com:

. . . existing shares may not be resold or otherwise redistributed.'

Green Bay Packers fans purchased $400,000 worth of shares in the first 11 minutes as the National Football League team’s fifth stock sale began today.

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/201...ews%2Fmostread

It's like buying a PSL errr, without the seat?

[gtexan02]

Its a one time $250 purchase that makes you legal part owner of the team.
Unlike PSL, theres no requirement to keep putting money in.

[Yankee_In_TX]

But you can't resell or transfer or do anything with it (other than to frame it).

Maybe I'd have to be from that part of the country to understand?

[gtexan02]

Originally Posted by Yankee_In_TX

But you can't resell or transfer or do anything with it (other than to frame it).

Maybe I'd have to be from that part of the country to understand?

You can pass it down in your will, you can vote on team decisions, you can attend an annual meeting of owners, you get other perks like exclusive tours and meet and greets, etc.

You also know that since the Packers are community owned, there isn't some greedy owner raking in profits. The money goes to helping the stadium, etc. Its like chipping in to the messageboard. Or sending money in to public radio/tv/etc. You're helping fund your own interest and getting some nice perks and a cool "owner" aspect

[gtexan02]

In a season where N.F.L. owners have steadily threatened to lock out the players next year unless they secure more profits in the next collective bargaining agreement, it’s poetic justice to see the Green Bay Packers, the team without an owner, make the Super Bowl. Actually, it’s not quite accurate to say the Packers are without an owner. They have a hundred and twelve thousand of them. The Packers are owned by the fans, making them the only publicly owned, not-for-profit, major professional team in the United States. The Pack have been a fan-owned operation since the primitive pro football days of the nineteen-twenties, when N.F.L. teams could be won in card games and no one foresaw the awesome power this sport would hold over both the American imagination and the American wallet.

In 1923, the Packers were just another hardscrabble team on the brink of bankruptcy. Rather than fold they decided to sell shares to the community, with fans each throwing down a couple of dollars to keep the team afloat. That humble frozen seed has since blossomed into a situation wherein more than a hundred thousand stockholders own more than four million shares of a perennial playoff contender. Those holding Packers stock are limited to no more than two hundred thousand shares, keeping any individual from gaining control over the club. Shareholders receive no dividend check and no free tickets to Lambeau Field. They don’t even get a foam cheesehead. All they get is a piece of paper that says they are part-owners of the Green Bay Packers. They don’t even get a green and gold frame for display purposes.

The shareholders elect a board of directors and a seven-member executive committee to stand in at N.F.L. owners meetings. But football decisions are made by General Manager Ted Thompson, perhaps the luckiest and happiest G.M. in sports. This structure allows Thompson to execute decisions, even unpopular ones, without an impatient, jittery billionaire breathing down his neck. Since his hire in January 2005, Thompson has made his share of controversial moves. But unlike his G.M. brethren around the league, who carry little or no job security, Thompson has been given the space to see his moves succeed or fail on their own accord. It was Thompson who decided to jettison legendary quarterback Brett Favre in 2008 for the unproven but younger and considerably lower maintenance Aaron Rodgers. Today, Favre is officially (we hope) retired and Rodgers stands at the pinnacle of his sport.

The Packers’ unique setup has created a relationship between team and community unlike any in the N.F.L. Wisconsin fans get to enjoy the team with the confidence that their owner won’t threaten to move to Los Angeles unless the team gets a new mega-dome. Volunteers work concessions, with sixty per cent of the proceeds going to local charities. Even the beer is cheaper than at a typical N.F.L. stadium. Not only has home field been sold out for two decades, but during snowstorms, the team routinely puts out calls for volunteers to help shovel and is never disappointed by the response. It doesn’t matter how beloved the Cowboys are in Dallas; if Jerry Jones ever put out a call for free labor, he’d be laughed out of town.

Here are the Packers: financially solvent, competitive, and deeply connected to the hundred thousand person city of Green Bay. It’s a beautiful story but it’s one that the N.F.L. and Commissioner Roger Goodell take great pains both to hide and make sure no other locality replicates. It’s actually written in the N.F.L. bylaws that no team can be a non-profit, community owned entity. The late N.F.L. commissioner Pete Rozelle had it written into the league’s constitution in 1960. Article V, Section 4—otherwise known as the Green Bay Rule—states that “charitable organizations and/or corporations not organized for profit and not now a member of the league may not hold membership in the National Football League.”

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blog...#ixzz1fmiADTn0

cool

[Playoffs]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

You can pass it down in your will, you can vote on team decisions, you can attend an annual meeting of owners, you get other perks like exclusive tours and meet and greets, etc.

Can I call plays?

[Ole Miss Texan]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

cool

Awesome, nice find!! I think this is actually pretty cool.

[Yankee_In_TX]

I mean, not trying to pee in anyone's corn flakes it just seems to me that the idea of 'control' of the team is false and you're really just buying a few stadium tours and meet and greets during the year?

Instead of an owner controlling things, you have Ted Thompson controlling them.

I get it is great PR and makes everyone warm and fuzzy, but I can't say if the Texans had an IPO tomorrow I'd buy 'stock.'

Just my $.02, not trying to convince anyone who disagrees to see it my way.

[Ole Miss Texan]

Originally Posted by Yankee_In_TX

I mean, not trying to pee in anyone's corn flakes it just seems to me that the idea of 'control' of the team is false and you're really just buying a few stadium tours and meet and greets during the year?

Instead of an owner controlling things, you have Ted Thompson controlling them.

I get it is great PR and makes everyone warm and fuzzy, but I can't say if the Texans had an IPO tomorrow I'd buy 'stock.'

Just my $.02, not trying to convince anyone who disagrees to see it my way.

I get what you're saying, and to an extent you're correct. You get to go to owners' meetings and such.

But by being a shareholder you have a vote, and that can be VERY powerful. The team can issue up to 10 million shares but no single person can own more than 200,000 (2% - fixed), and as of today only 2 people had that maximum. Now I don't know what may or may not go before the shareholders for a vote (edit: board of governors will).... but the team moving cities could certainly be raised. And I'd find it extremely unlikely to gain enough votes to move the Packers to L.A. The Jaguars or the Texans (for example) could up and move next season, theoretically.

[disaacks3]

Originally Posted by Ole Miss Texan

I get what you're saying, and to an extent you're correct. You get to go to owners' meetings and such.

But by being a shareholder you have a vote, and that can be VERY powerful. The team can issue up to 10 million shares but no single person can own more than 200,000 (20%), and as of today only 2 people had that maximum. Now I don't know what may or may not go before the shareholders for a vote (edit: board of governors will).... but the team moving cities could certainly be raised. And I'd find it extremely unlikely to gain enough votes to move the Packers to L.A. The Jaguars or the Texans (for example) could up and move next season, theoretically.

But THESE "shares" they're selling now can;t be sold, so (theoretically) you can really only have one. Whoopee.

Honestly, if they're not true voting shares that can be resold, they aren't really "shares" at all.

Basically, a $250 pet rock.

[GlassHalfFull]

Shutdown corner has a take on it.

You can now buy shares of the Packers, but with strings attached

Stock in the Packers isn't an investment. It doesn't rise or fall like something you'd buy from a broker. Shelling out the money brings little more than a certificate of ownership, nominal voting rights and the ability to tell your friends that you own a sliver of one of the most storied organizations in professional sports.
The purchase, of course, comes with a bevy of rules and restrictions. The website packersowner.com has a PDF that includes 12 pages of rules and restrictions and a four-page application for the stock purchase. Some of the rules wouldn't matter to the gift-giving crowd. It's highly doubtful, for instance, that anyone buying a stock certificate for a family member is going to own another professional football franchise. But buried in the fine print are some interesting restrictions and the steep fine that could accompany them:
The NFL Rules prohibit conduct by shareholders of NFL member clubs that is detrimental to the NFL, including [...] publicly criticizing any NFL member club or its management, employees.

If the Commissioner of the NFL (the "Commissioner") decides that a shareholder of an NFL member club has been guilty of conduct detrimental to the welfare of the NFL then, among other things, the Commissioner has the authority to fine such shareholder in an amount not in excess of $500,000 and/or require such shareholder to sell his or her stock. In addition, if the Commissioner determines that a shareholder has bet on the outcome or score of any game played in the NFL, among other things, then the Commissioner may fine such shareholder in an amount not in excess of $5,000 and/or require such shareholder to sell his or her stock.

Now, I highly doubt Roger Goodell is going to care if you get Packers stock as a Christmas gift and then post on Facebook about how much you don't like Tim Tebow(notes). And that Bodog account you may or may not have isn't going to lead to a Black Sox scandal. Don't say you weren't warned, though.

[Stemp]

Originally Posted by ole miss texan

i get what you're saying, and to an extent you're correct. You get to go to owners' meetings and such.

But by being a shareholder you have a vote, and that can be very powerful. The team can issue up to 10 million shares but no single person can own more than 200,000 (.02%), and as of today only 2 people had that maximum. Now i don't know what may or may not go before the shareholders for a vote (edit: Board of governors will).... But the team moving cities could certainly be raised. And i'd find it extremely unlikely to gain enough votes to move the packers to l.a. The jaguars or the texans (for example) could up and move next season, theoretically.

fify

[Ole Miss Texan]

Originally Posted by disaacks3

But THESE "shares" they're selling now can;t be sold, so (theoretically) you can really only have one. Whoopee.

Honestly, if they're not true voting shares that can be resold, they aren't really "shares" at all.

Basically, a $250 pet rock.

Forget the word "share". What you're essentially doing is making a $250 donation to the Packers organization so they can upgrade their stadium. For that donation, they are listing you as a part owner of the franchise and allowing you to vote on who is on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee that attends NFL Meetings. They're also allowing you to attend the annual owners meetings, attend other special events and purchase exclusive merchandise for owners only. You can also pass this on to your immediate family and they can receive those same benefits. Unfortunately, you are unable to sell this at a later date.

Originally Posted by Stemp

fify

LOL thanks, it's been a long day!

[gtexan02]

Edit: Double Post

[gtexan02]

Originally Posted by Ole Miss Texan

Forget the word "share". What you're essentially doing is making a $250 donation to the Packers organization so they can upgrade their stadium. For that donation, they are listing you as a part owner of the franchise and allowing you to vote on who is on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee that attends NFL Meetings. They're also allowing you to attend the annual owners meetings, attend other special events and purchase exclusive merchandise for owners only. You can also pass this on to your immediate family and they can receive those same benefits. Unfortunately, you are unable to sell this at a later date.

Exactly! And in return, you're guaranteed that your sports team is a non-profit organization.

Non-profit means cheaper concessions (with what profits are generated going mostly to charity), no maniacal owners a la Jerry Jones, etc.

The Packers main goal is as a football team. All other NFL teams main goal is to generate profit.

[IDEXAN]

Not a financial investment, just a sentimental investment, but that's more than enough for Packer fans.

[chicagotexan2]

There's one born every minute.