Why the NFL Have Banned Community Ownership, But Continue to Exempt Fan-Owned Green Bay Packers?
As the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports club established in the United States, the Green Bay Packers are the third-oldest franchise in the NFL, having been founded in 1919. With nine regular-season NFL championships and four Super Bowl triumphs, the Packers have won 13 league championships, the most in NFL history.
With a value of $2.63 billion, Forbes ranked the Packers as the 27th most valuable sports franchise in the world in 2019. A nonprofit organization called Green Bay Packers, Inc. owns the franchise. No other team may be non-profit-owned under the current league regulations; each must have a governing family with at least a 30% ownership interest.
Although the NFL officially forbids such ownership structures, the Packers‘ ownership was grandfathered in. The Green Bay Packers have been a non-profit organization owned by the residents of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and their families since the team’s founding a century ago.
The only fan-owned franchise in the top leagues of the US – Green Bay Packers
They are owned by many fans, namely 360,584 shareholders, as opposed to one owner or a small group of owners. No shareholder may own more than 200,000 shares, or around 4% of the total 5,011,557 shares, in their possession. Since August 18, 1923, the team has been a publicly owned, non-profit organization.
The Green Bay Packers are the only non-profit, community-owned professional sports team among the Big Four leagues in the United States.
The Packers have been a publicly owned, non-profit corporation since August 18, 1923.
— UberFacts (@UberFacts) April 22, 2019
The NFL does not permit corporate ownership of teams, but because the Packers have been a publicly held business since the rule’s inception, they are exempt. Four years after the team’s founding, in 1923, when it was on the point of filing for bankruptcy, everything began. The Packers have been run in this manner since they offered shares to the public to keep the franchise solvent. However, because stocks do not have an equity interest, do not pay dividends, and cannot be exchanged or sold, investors cannot profit from their investments.
The Green Bay Packers shareholders choose the board of directors and the executive committee, which consists of seven people. Soccer teams in Europe, like the fan-owned FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, frequently have community ownership. There is a “Green Bay Rule” in the NFL constitution from 1960.
The Green Bay #Packers are an anomaly in sports, a community owned franchise, and it all started here with with this 1923 stock certificate from the team’s inaugural stock sale. It is in impeccable condition and the first offered publicly in over 16 years pic.twitter.com/u1IQhr94Ag
— Heritage Auctions Sports (@Heritage_Sport) July 1, 2019
The rule mentions: “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.”
Only five public issues of team shares have been made during the previous century, and during these times, selling or purchasing of shares is not permitted unless it is done directly. Only within an immediate family can shares be transferred from one owner to another. The club participates in the same market-based transactions as other teams even though it doesn’t have an owner in the conventional sense.
