The Green Bay Packers, a non-profit corporation in the smallest market in the National Football League, are worth more than $1 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Forbes, which annually values major sports franchises, said the Dallas Cowboys are tops in the National Football League, with a value of $1.612 billion. The Packers, valued at $1,023 billion, ranked 16th in terms of team valuation. There are 32 teams in the league.
Last year, the team was valued at $927 million.
The Packers have been a non-profit, publicly owned corporation since Aug. 18, 1923. The corporation is run by a board of directors and a seven-member executive committee. All profits, after expenses, are put back into the franchise.
The magazine also found that, for the first time in any sport, team values in the NFL averaged $1 billion. Ten years ago, the magazine said the average value of an NFL team was $288 million.
The least valued franchise was the Minnesota Vikings, estimated at $839 million.
The primary reason for the Packers' increase in value is Lambeau Field, which was refurbished in 2003 at a cost of $295 million. In addition, the Packers have secured a number of key sponsorships with such major companies as MillerCoors, Verizon Wireless, Associated Bank and others.
The Packers also enjoy a national fan base. In addition, quarterback Brett Favre, now playing for the New York Jets after a messy divorce from the team, was a merchandising powerhouse for the franchise.
Thanks in part to Favre and the team's national appeal, the Packers have ranked in the upper half in the league in terms of league revenue. In the fiscal year ending March 31, the Packers reported a profit of $21.4 million. That was down $12.8 million from the previous fiscal year.
Unique in professional sports, a total of 4,750,934 Packer shares are owned by 112,015 stockholders. None of the stockholders receives any dividend on their investment. Moreover, team bylaws prohibit any person for owning more than 200,000 shares.
Forbes reported that, in many cases, a jump in valuation was due largely to the construction of new stadiums. The New York Giants and New York Jets, for instance, each had a 21 percent jump in value, due largely to a new stadium that will open in 2010.
The Cowboys are currently building a $1.1 billion stadium in Arlington that is scheduled to open next season.
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(c) 2008, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.
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