Green Bay Packers, Inc.

Lore & Background

The Green Bay Packers were founded in 1919 by Curly Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun. In 1921, the Packers joined the American Professional Football Association, which would be renamed a year later to the National Football League (NFL). In 1923, the team faced financial difficulties; local civic leaders, including The Hungry Five, helped organize the team's ownership into a publicly owned non-profit corporation, known at the time as the Green Bay Football Corporation.

That same year, shares of stock were sold at $5 a piece, with about 1,000 total shares sold for a profit of just over $5,000. The Corporation's original articles of incorporation stipulated that in the event of the sale of the franchise all profits from the sale be donated to the Sullivan-Wallen Post of the American Legion, earmarked for the purpose of building 'a proper soldier's memorial'; this restriction removed any financial incentive for the team to be sold by the shareholders, helping to ensure it remained in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Two additional stock sales occurred to help prevent insolvency: in 1935 and in 1950. The 1935 stock sale raised over $12,000, with each share sold at $25 a piece. The motivation for this stock sale came from a lawsuit from a fan injured at a game that had forced the corporation into receivership. When the corporation left receivership, it was reorganized under its present name, Green Bay Packers, Inc. The 1950 stock sale helped the Packers head off competition from the All-America Football Conference and founder Curly Lambeau's departure after a 30-year reign as coach.

The 1950 sale also included a limit of no more than 200 shares per stockholder, assuring that no one person could take control of the team. Shares were again sold for $25 a piece, with the organization raising over $100,000 on the sale of about 4,100 shares. The corporation did not organize another stock sale until 1997 and 1998, with two more occurring from 2011 to 2012 and from 2021 to 2022. The purpose of all three sales was to raise money to fund capital improvements at Lambeau Field.

Prior to the 1997/1998 sale, existing shareholders (which numbered only 1,940 at the time) authorized the creation of one million new shares, simultaneously giving themselves a thousand-to-one split.

Reader's Guide

As a publicly owned corporation, ownership of Green Bay Packers, Inc. resides in its shareholders, of which there are 538,967 who hold a total of 5,204,625 shares. Even though it is referred to as 'common stock' in corporate offering documents, a share of Packers stock does not share the same rights traditionally associated with common or preferred stock. Due to its unique bylaws and non-profit status, ownership does not include an equity interest, does not pay dividends, cannot be traded, and has no protection under securities law.

No single person can own more than 200,000 shares, thus ensuring that no private entity could maintain a controlling stake in the team. Ownership does not confer any ticket purchasing or other facility access privileges. Shares can be transferred to immediate family members and be inherited after a shareholder's death, but resale of stock is only allowed back to the Packers, who pay just a fraction of the stock's original purchase price. Additionally, as owners of an NFL team, all shareholders are subject to NFL rules regarding behavior, including not publicly criticizing the league or betting on NFL games.

In practice, these rules are not enforced on Packers shareholders, although theoretically they could face a significant fine and be forced to relinquish their ownership stake. Each year, shareholders elect board members and executive committee members during a shareholder meeting, historically held in the month of July before the start of the NFL's regular season. The board includes a seven-person executive committee, which is led by a president.

In practice, the executive committee, which is now typically made up of professional businesspeople, manages the day-to-day operation of the corporation. The president exercises the roles and responsibilities typically reserved for a team owner, including attending league meetings, serving on committees, and voting on league decisions. All executive committee members are required to retire or transition to emeritus status when they turn 70 years old.

This most recently occurred to Mark Murphy, who served as team president for 18 seasons. After a formal selection process, the board elected Ed Policy to be the team's next president after Murphy's retirement was finalized in July 2025. Board members have included past NFL players, local civic leaders, and businesspeople.

Did You Know?

• The Packers are the only North American major league sports franchise to release its financial balance sheet every year.
• In 2025, the NFL allowed private equity investment in teams, but the Packers' ownership model prevents them from using this source of revenue.