Packers have an ownership emergency option, if they'd ever need to use it

During the slow time, the mind wanders. A question from a viewer during the summer run of #PFTPM sent my relaxed brain wandering in one specific direction. And with the annual Packers shareholder meeting coming on Monday, there’s no time like now to trot it out.

The seeds were planted, deliberately or not, by Packers president and CEO Ed Policy. In a March 2026 interview with Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, Policy expressed an opinion that the current financial realities of NFL ownership make it harder for the only publicly-owned NFL franchise to compete.

“If you think about any other team, they’ve got deep-pocketed owners, most of them are worth significantly more than that, and they could sell less than 10 percent of their team, give up no controlling interest, and raise a heck of a lot more than that,” Policy said.

“Given the pace that the expenses have accelerated over the past few years, if we find ourselves falling behind, it’s going to be really hard to catch up. So, we have to keep ourselves in a position where we’re not falling behind.”

So what if the Packers eventually do fall behind? What happens if, at some point, the powers-that-be decide that the current business model doesn’t work?

On the surface, there would seem to be nothing to do. The Packers are publicly owned. Because the shares can’t be sold, it’s impossible for anyone to buy up controlling interest in the company.

Still, the potential solution is fairly simple. Green Bay Packers, Inc. could, in theory, dissolve, with the assets of the corporation sold to an expansion franchise. The proceeds would then go to charity.

It’s right there in the team’s Article VI of Articles of Incorporation: “That should there be a dissolution of the Green Bay Packers, Inc., the players shall be subject to the National Football League Rules, but that the undivided profits and assets of the Green Bay Packers, Inc. shall go to the Green Bay Packers Foundation for distribution to community programs, charitable causes, and such other similar cause to which the Foundation deems appropriate.”

Of course, leadership of the corporation would first have to choose to dissolve. It would be an option utilized as a last-ditch effort, if/when the “deep-pocketed owners” to whom Policy referred become sufficiently rich to spend the Packers into oblivion. And, frankly, if the absence of a traditional owner were to convert the Packers into the perennial loser that they were for most of the ’70s and ’80s, the fans could get behind a radical change in ownership structure.

What of the shareholders, you ask? Those folks who paid good money for a piece of memorabilia that’s framed on the wall? The many stock certificates would continue to have the value they currently possess — none at all.

The stock can’t be sold. It doesn’t appreciate in value. It has no real value. It gets the “owner” nothing more than the official piece of paper and an invitation to the annual shareholder meeting.

Based on conversations with those in the know, the league at large wouldn’t be upset if it happened. The transition from corporation to traditional owner would introduce another multi-billionaire into the club. And with an expansion fee of at least $10 billion (much more if it happens in the not-foreseeable future), the other owners would share that payment equally.

There’s another benefit. If the Packers convert from a publicly-owned corporation, the franchise’s books would be sealed shut. There would be no way to know how much money any team makes, and no way to isolate the shared revenue and multiply it by 32 to know more about how much money the league is making.

It won’t happen unless and until the Board of Directors decides to do it. But if it’s determined that the current structure is keeping the team from being competitive, it’s an option for giving an oligarch who owns a cheesehead the opportunity to modernize the ownership structure and to keep the franchise on equal footing with its competitors.

The challenge would be to ensure that the Packers would stay put. Perhaps a commitment would be secured that the team would never move. The Packers, after all, must be in Green Bay.

Even with that limitation, someone with billions to burn would take over the team, if the Packers ever decide to make a dramatic change in their structure for the long-term good of the franchise.