Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
First stock sale in 10 years begins at $300 a share
Green Bay — The sixth Green Bay Packers stock sale, the first opportunity in a decade to buy shares in the team, began Tuesday.
The Packers said Monday they will sell 300,000 shares at $300 each plus handling fee. The sale is restricted to residents of the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The sale will continue to Feb. 25, 2022, and could be extended.
Regulatory approval is on a state-bystate basis. The Packers indicated in their news release Monday that some states have not yet done so, but did not say which states or when approval might be expected.
More details are available at Packers.com.
The Packers said they would use the money for improvements at Lambeau Field. Projects at the stadium, including completed and planned concourse upgrades, and new video scoreboards, total about $250 million.
The NFL requires money raised by a stock sale to be used only for stadium projects that are beneficial to fans. The money cannot be used for operating expenses or to expand player facilities. The Packers are the only team to which the rule applies because they are the only publicly owned team.
Fan interest in owning Packers stock remains high.
“I want to buy a share because I’m a diehard Packers fan from Rhode Island, in the middle of Patriots fans. My kids are Packers fans because of me,” Eric Devonis said Monday.
Payment can be made for online purchase at Packers.com by credit card, debit card or electronic bank transfer. Purchases by mail can be paid for by personal check or cashier’s check.
Individuals are limited to 200 shares, including any shares acquired in the 1997 and 2011 sales.
Packers stock cannot be sold and it does not pay dividends. It can be transferred to family members.
Shareholders get to vote for Packers
board directors and certain other motions at the annual shareholders meeting in July.
Fans understand going in the limitations of their purchase, so they are not motivated by financial gain. For some, it’s a more personal purchase.
“That’s the reason I would love to buy a share, is for my father,” said Justin Salazar of Rio Hondo, Texas. “I’ve been a Green Bay Packers fan since I was child because of my father’s love for the Packers.”
The team has 361,300 shareholders who collectively own about 5,009,400 shares.
Previous stock sales were in 1923, 1935, 1950, 1997 and 2011. The first three sales bailed the team out of dire financial straits. The 1997 sale helped pay for the 2003 renovation of Lambeau Field and the 2011 sale contributed to more renovations, as will this sale.
Shares cost $250 each during the December 2011 sale, which accounted for about 269,000 additional shares and raised more than $67 million.
Rodgers ready to return to normal
After 10 days away from his team, there was bound to be a period of adjustment for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Returning on Sunday to defeat the Seattle Seahawks 17-0, Rodgers — who’d just spent a week and a half in quarantine on the reserve/COVID-19 list — said the week of game prep on Zoom was “not ideal” and he was looking forward to a normal week of practice once again.
“I feel like (head coach) Matt (LaFleur) did a nice job of limiting the long play calls early in the game,” Rodgers said. “It was a lot of running plays, but not a lot of cans or adjustment on them, so I think that made me settle in a little bit. But yeah, not ideal for sure. It’ll be nice to go through a full week next week.”
As LaFleur pointed out Monday however, it’s been a while since Rodgers has had a full week of practice. Three weeks to be exact, since a 24-10 win over the Washington Football Team. The Packers then had a quick turnaround to a Thursday
night game against the Arizona Cardinals. Those practices were all walkthroughs. The following week, Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 before he was able to participate in a day of practice.
Further complicating the issue, Rodgers was playing with Davante Adams and Allen Lazard again for the first time since that Week 7 Washington game, and with Marquez Valdes-Scantling for the first since a Week 3 win against San Francisco.
“It’s not like he was getting a ton of time with these guys. And then he has different receivers from the last time he played and then you’re getting all these guys back. So naturally, there was probably a little bit of a dip in terms from our passing game,” LaFleur said.
Rodgers went 23-for-37 for 292 yards (no touchdowns, one interception).
“I thought there were a lot of great things he did,” LaFleur said. “And I think there were a couple of balls that he threw
that we had opportunities to come down with and we didn’t do it. So certainly there was the one throw to Allen Lazard, the deep one, I think that happened on third down that he’d like to have back. But for the most part I thought he threw the ball pretty accurately.
“I thought outside the red-zone (interception) when we threw the one up to (Josiah) Deguara, I thought for the most part his decision-making was on point as well. And I think that’s such a credit to him to be so locked into the game plan, knowing inside and out, to be able to operate and function at a high level without any practice time.”
Now as the Packers prepare for a road trip to take on the Minnesota Vikings, Rodgers will get a full week of practice once again, allowing LaFleur to fold in specific designs to the game plan for the Vikings.
“I think the one thing that we’re mindful of is just having some of those game-plan specific plays or new adds,” said LaFleur, adding of the Seahawks game plan, “we were cautious about to putting too much of that in without him getting those reps in practice to feel comfortable with those plays.”
Added Rodgers, “The best thing for me to be prepared is to be able to repeat the plays in practice and then the walkthroughs, you’re hearing them two or three or four times and it becomes kind of second nature.”
It’s no secret the Packers have struggled on special teams in recent weeks. It’s easy to point to missed field goals (and a muffed punt) as the difference makers in a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. And in what became a lowscoring affair against the Seattle Seahawks — a game that was 3-0 heading into the fourth quarter — a missed field goal on the opening drive once again stood out as possibly detrimental.
“You never want to have that impact on a game and it has, I guess you could say, potentially two weeks in a row,” LaFleur said.
Against the Chiefs, the issue arose in the operation, so to speak.
The snap and hold were not on the same page, putting the laces in the wrong place for the kick. Against the Seahawks, the laces were fine, but kicker Mason Crosby and holder Corey Borjorquez came off the field after the missed field goal in animated discussion.
On Monday, LaFleur said the film review indicated the timing was off in the unit.
“I think that was one of those things where maybe the timing was just a little bit off because when I watched the tape, you can see it. I think Mase (Crosby) started to lean a little bit more, anticipating the snap and then the snap was, the timing of it was a little bit off. We’ve got to obviously get that corrected.”