The Green Bay Packers have always loved to flaunt the fact they’re a publicly-owned football team. The only one in existence. Nobody has bothered to point out how delicate a balance that can create for a franchise in terms of money. Unlike other teams who have billionaire owners with their finances often backed by other businesses, such is not the case for the Packers. This explains why the team endured one of its worst revenue returns in a long time.
Yahoo Sports reported that the 2018 season did not yield the results the Packers had grown used to. Not just with their inability to make the playoffs for the second-straight year, but also the drastic plummet of their annual profits. How drastic? It went from an eight-digit number in 2017 to a six-digit number last year. Suffice to say it was not the result the Chicago Bears rival was looking for.
“The Green Bay Packers reported a profit of just $724,000 in their latest fiscal year, which included their second straight season without a playoff appearance, a large contract extension for quarterback Aaron Rodgers and change in head coach from Mike McCarthy to Matt LaFleur.
Green Bay’s profit in the year ending March 31 was down 97.9% from $34.1 million in the year ending March 2018 and more than 99% from the record $75 million in the previous fiscal year.
”From a financial standpoint, it was a unique year for the Packers,” Packers President Mark Murphy said Friday.”
Green Bay Packers fans are no better than others
The best part of all this? The revelation proves that the high and mighty Packers fans, who flaunt themselves as the best and most loyal in the NFL, are just like anybody else. If their team isn’t winning, they’re not going to part with their money to go watch it. Pro Shop purchases and Lambeau Field tours were down significantly. The team brass admitted a return to the postseason would be much-desired to help correct this problem.
That would explain their large spending spree in the offseason. Adrian Amos, Preston Smith, and Za’Darius Smith headlined easily the biggest free agent class the team has had in its history. Not to mention having to shell out $134 million to ensure Aaron Rodgers remains a Packer. For the first time, it’s become clear why the team has avoided free agency. It’s not so much about principle. It’s that they didn’t have the deep pockets to do it.
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So when the drafting started to go wrong, one could imagine the panic that set in.
