Green Bay Packers to Sell Team Stock Tuesday
The Green Bay Packers, which is the only publicly-owned major sports franchise in the U.S., will begin the team’s fifth stock sale Tuesday.
The team will offer 250,000 shares at $250 per share. All proceeds from the stock sale will be used to complete $130 million of renovations at Lambeau Field.
Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy wrote on the team’s website that more details will be available once the stock sale goes live, but introduced several guidelines that will govern the sale.
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The offering will be limited to U.S. citizens, and will exclude residents of Virginia and New Hampshire due to those states’ legislations.
Shares will be able to be given as gifts, but once ownership is established, it is against team bylaws to transfer that ownership. There will be a means to have certificates delivered before Dec. 24.
No one can buy more than 200 shares. The limit is intended to prohibit any one person from possessing too much control in the organization.
Currently, about 112,000 people own 4.75 million shares of Packers stock. Stock ownership is largely symbolic as share values do not rise, nor is the resale value very high. Shareholders do get to vote on executive board members, and are invited every year to attend a shareholders meeting at Lambeau Field.
The success of previous stock sales is largely due to the unique connection the Packers share with their fans.
Green Bay first sold stock in 1923 when Curly Lambeau incorporated with local businessmen and sold 1,000 shares for $5. Without the innovative fundraising, the Packers probably would not have survived.
Three other stock sales have occurred throughout the team’s 93-year history, the last of which occurred in 1997, when $24 million was raised to help finance the stadium’s renovation.
The organization believes this stock sale will be as successful as its predecessors, citing the convenience of hosting the sale online (and by mail), the timing (directly preceding the holidays), the tradition and the team’s current 12-0 record on the heels of last year’s Super Bowl victory.
Shares will be sold through a portal at Packers.com.
