Packers pursuing draft, London trip
GREEN BAY – Perhaps the biggest Green Bay Packers news Wednesday was the release of defensive lineman Mike Daniels, but it was not mentioned during the team’s annual shareholders meeting.
Which is all the evidence you need that professional football is a business and remorselessly so.
Every year, popular players leave the team, voluntarily or not, but the business of the Packers goes on, and the Packers are good on that front, team President and CEO Mark Murphy said Wednesday.
Among the more interesting topics addressed during and after the meeting was whether Green Bay could host an NFL draft, when the Packers would play in London and what’s new with the Titletown District residential development.
So, in that order:
NFL draft
Murphy reiterated the Packers have applied to the NFL to host a draft in 2022 or 2024 and beyond, though he acknowledged that 2024 or later is more likely.
The team believes the new Brown County expo center is a requirement to hosting the draft. It’s scheduled to be completed in early 2021, but the team would like it to have been operational for a time before trying to host something as big as the draft.
Drafts will be in Las Vegas in 2020, Cleveland in 2021 and Kansas City in 2023.
The draft has become a large event for the NFL and some question whether it might have already outgrown Green Bay. Murphy said the NFL wants the draft to be in cities that won’t get to host a Super Bowl and that Green Bay is a possible site.
“We are going to keep pushing for it,” he said.
International appeal
The Packers are the only NFL team that hasn’t played or isn’t scheduled to play a regular-season game in London or Mexico City. That’s because teams that could host the Packers at one of those sites choose not to, preferring to have the well-followed team’s fans in their home stadiums. The Packers have said they will not give up a home game, themselves.
Murphy said the Packers want to play internationally and told the league that its Aug. 22 preseason game in Winnipeg doesn’t count.
He said one benefit of a longer regular-season schedule — owners, at least, have talked about adding one or two games to the schedule, though players have yet to agree — is that it would make it easier to play international games.
“We’ll have to be satisfied with Winnipeg for now,” he said.
Titletown Phase 2
The Packers have begun construction on the next phase of the Titletown Development, which includes a 140unit apartment building and townhouses. A new website, Titletownhomes.com, includes updated information and new renderings. Prices have not been announced.
“We think there will be a lot of interest, especially now with sales agents going out,” Murphy said.
The Packers earlier in July reported a record $477.9 million in revenue and a record $477.2 million in expenses during the fiscal year that ended March 31. The team reported net income of $8.4 million, compared with $38.6 million the year before. Profit from operations was $724,000, compared with $34.1 million the previous year.
Total revenue, rather than net income or profit, is the more significant number in Packers’ finances because all money, whether profit or not, goes into team operations or the community. Net income, however, does show how well the team keeps expenses under control.
National revenue for the year was $274.3 million, an $18.4 million increase from the year before. Packers player costs were $242 million, a $30 million increase, $10 million of which was attributed to an increase in the salary cap. Local income was $203.7 million, a $4.7 million increase.
Shareholders elected former Packers players George Koonce and Eric Torkelson to the 42-member board of directors. In August, Donald J. Long Jr. will join the team’s seven-member executive committee.
Attendance for Wednesday’s meeting was well below normal at 4,200.
Contact Richard Ryman at (920) 431-8342 or rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/