This NFL Team Is Owned By the Fans — Here's How Much Shares Cost and What Ownership Gets You The Cheeseheads even own their hat maker.
By Erin Davis
Key Takeaways
- Over 538,000 individuals hold the Green Bay Packers' 5.2 million shares.
- The shares offer no financial gain or market value, serving mainly for voting rights and team support.
- This structure has ensured the Packers' survival and growth, maintaining its distinctive place in the NFL's corporate landscape.
The Green Bay Packers, valued at $6.3 billion, are the only publicly-owned NFL team and the sole team in all North American major sports leagues with this ownership structure, CNBC reports.
The tradition of fan ownership was initiated more than 100 years ago, with six stock offerings so far (1923, 1935, 1950, 1997, 2011, 2021), with an ownership cap of 200,000 shares per person. The first offering was $5 a share. The latest was around $300, and more than 538,000 individuals collectively hold over 5.2 million shares, according to the official team media guide.
However, the shares don't provide dividends, can only be transferred to a family member, and have no market value. What shareholders do have is voting power at the annual meeting to elect a board of directors.
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Also, the only exit strategy is to sell shares back to the team at a portion of the initial cost, so this investment is more about fandom and community roots than financial gain. And because the team is publicly owned, they disclose revenues and expenses yearly, per ESPN.
In 2023, the Packers generated $638 million in revenue and charted $128 million in earnings, which goes into player salaries, the upkeep of the historic Lambeau Field, and other essential operations. Last year, the Packers also purchased Foamation Inc., the company that makes the famed Cheesehead hat.
Despite playing in the smallest TV market in the NFL (and Green Bay lacking the vacation allure of franchises in cities like Las Vegas or Miami), the Packers have become a storied franchise whose ownership structure has continued to shape the team as an outlier—in finances, fan engagement, and cheese-shaped headwear.
The Packers are ranked the 12th most valuable team (out of 32) in the NFL, per CNBC Team Valuations.
