Team hopes to really cash in on its record net income

Editor’s note: This story was published April 12, 1996.

Green Bay — Record profitability mixed with the increasing demand for cash to compete with the Dallas Cowboys and other high-revenue National Football League teams promises to be the message that Green Bay Packers executives will deliver to stockholders at the corporation’s annual meeting next month.

Unaudited estimates are that the Packers will report net income in the $4 million to $5 million range for their fiscal year that ended March 31. The record profit for the corporation was $3.3 million in 1993. Last year, the bottom line was $2 million.

“We’ll have our best year in history,” club treasurer John Underwood said. “I could see us reporting net income more than double our 1995 result.”

Nevertheless, the Packers have organizational concerns about their cash position after the Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, among other teams, have circumvented the salary cap by using their liquid assets to fund signing bonuses both to re-sign and acquire star players.

Once the second Jumbotron scoreboard is installed in Lambeau Field this spring, at a cost of $3.5 million, look for the Packers to back off on some planned capital-improvement projects.

“We’re at a point where we’re going to have to seriously consider delaying some of our capital projects so that we’ve got the cash to compete on the field,” Underwood said. “In the business we’re in cash is king. We’re going to have to change our concentration.

“Over the last 12 fiscal years, when we finish our new replay board, we will have invested approximately $45 million in facilities. We invested $7 million in the past fiscal year in facilities. Even though we’re going to report our best year ever, we’re going to end up with negative cash flow.”

Adding 90 private boxes to Lambeau Field in ’95 increased the total to 198 and fully enclosed the 60,790-seat stadium. Projects that now appear destined to wait include lowering the playing field, expanding the main press box and moving out the exterior fence around the concourse.

In their search for additional revenue, the Packers conceivably could examine naming rights, increasing the number of their lucrative club seats from 1,920 and intensifying marketing ventures.

Green Bay reported operating revenue of $62.2 million for fiscal 1994, which team president Bob Harlan said ranked 20th in the league. In ‘95, despite making $2.6 million more by playing all 10 games in Green Bay instead of the 6-4 split with Milwaukee, and despite an increase in network television money from $35.5 million to almost $38 million, Harlan said the Packers ranked 22nd in revenue. In contrast, the Cowboys reportedly have gross revenue of almost $100 million, or about $20 million more than any other team. Their revenue advantage stems largely from ticket prices and marketing deals at Texas Stadium.

Although the Cowboys continue to lose starting players because of the restraints imposed on all teams by the salary cap, owner Jerry Jones possessed the resources to pay a league-leading $40.2 million in signing bonuses last year.

This winter, the Packers paid signing bonuses totaling about $4 million, including $2 million to defensive tackle Santana Dotson, $1.2 million to tight end Mark Chmura and $900,000 to linebacker Ron Cox.

“Since I’ve been on the executive committee and been treasurer for six years we’ve not had a situation where we’ve pulled away and said, ‘Hey, we’re not going to do it because we don’t have the cash,’” Underwood said. “But the point is we need more cash to keep on competing with the Dallases of the world.”

Last month, the Packers took a major step by implementing their first increase in ticket prices since ‘92. Each ticket will increase by $4 to $7.

“Thank God we moved the games from Milwaukee,” Harlan said. “That made a huge difference for us.”

PACKER PLUS FILES Lambeau Field, shown during a game on Nov. 23, 1997, was set to have its second Jumbotron scoreboard installed in the spring of 1996.