Want to own an NFL team? Packers offering rare chance to purchase stock in franchise

There have only been six stock sales in franchise history

For most non-billionaires, it's almost impossible to become an NFL owner, but Packers fans are going to have a chance to own part of their team this week thanks to a public stock offering.

The Packers have announced that starting Tuesday morning, the team will be selling 300,000 shares of stock. Each share will cost $300 and once they're all sold out, the team will have raised a total of $90 million that will be used to pay for ongoing construction projects at Lambeau Field. 

The current sale marks just the sixth time in franchise history that the Packers have sold stock in the team. The first stock offering came in 1923 with another one in 1935 and then again in 1950. In more recent history, the Packers held a stock offering in both 1997 and 2011. Ten years ago, the cost of a share was just $250. 

According to Packers president Mark Murphy, fans are always asking him when the next stock sale is going to happen. 

"It's been 10 years since our last offering and we've been asked regularly by fans when the next opportunity will take place to become an owner of the Packers," Murphy said. "For them and our next generation of fans who are ready, we're very pleased to welcome our newest shareholders."

If you do want to buy stock in the Packers, the one thing to keep in mind is that your share is essentially worthless. Although you're technically a part of owner of the team, which is cool to brag about, that's about all you're going to get from your stock. The shares don't appreciate in value, they can't be traded and they won't pay out any dividends. Also, buying a share doesn't mean you'll start to have input in the team's decision-making process. Murphy isn't going to call you on your cell phone to get your take on whether they should try to keep Aaron Rodgers after the 2021 season. That being said, the team does have a shareholders' meeting every year and you will be invited to that. 

When it comes to Packers stock, there are some rules. For instance, no one can buy more than 200 shares, which makes sense, because I'm guessing they don't want a crazy Bears fans to come in and perform a hostile takeover of the franchise. 

The current stock offering will end on Feb. 22, 2022 or when all 300,000 shares have been sold. You can click here if you're actually interested in buying some. Going into this stock offering, there were approximately 5,009,400 shares of the team owned by approximately 361,300 shareholders, according to the Packers website. 

The Packers are the most uniquely run franchise in the NFL. With no owner in place -- they're owned by the people -- the team is run by a president (Murphy) who serves as the lead decision-maker. The president is the head of a seven-person executive committee. There's also a board of directors with 42 people on it.