Moving Past COVID, Packers Post Record Profit

With fans returning to stadiums and the league sharing a national financial pie of more than $11 billion, the Packers returned to their money-making ways.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With Lambeau Field returning to capacity and significant increases in national and local revenue, the Green Bay Packers recorded profit of operations of $77.7 million.

“I think the story line this year is return to normalcy,” team President and CEO Mark Murphy said in laying out the team’s financial picture on Friday, a few days ahead of Monday’s annual shareholders meeting.

In fiscal-year 2021, the Packers lost $38.8 million – a swing of almost $110 million compared to the year prior. That was the result of COVID-19. With games played in empty stadiums, local revenue plummeted from $210.9 million in fiscal-year 2020 to $61.9 million in fiscal-year 2021.

With the league having moved out the pandemic and the Packers playing 11 games inside the historic stadium, local revenue soared to $231.7 million in the fiscal-year that ended on March 31. That not only was an improvement of $169.8 million from last fiscal-year but it was $20.8 million better than fiscal-year 2020.

Meanwhile, national revenue rose sharply. Thanks in large part to the new 17-game season, the Packers received $347.3 million from the league. That means the 32 teams shared a financial pie of about $11.1 billion – the first time over $10 billion, let alone $11 billion.

“Between long-term TV deals and the long-term collective bargaining agreement, the league’s in a strong financial position,” Murphy said.

Throwing out 2021 as an outlier, here are some annual comparisons.

Total revenue: $579.0 million in 2022; $506.9 million in 2020. Up 14.2 percent.

National revenue: $347.3 million in 2022; $296.0 million in 2020. Up 17.3 percent.

Local revenue: $231.7 million in 2022; $210.9 million in 2020. Up 9.9 percent.

Total expenses: $510.3 million in 2022; $436.6 million in 2020. Up 14.8 percent.

Profit from operations: $77.7 million in 2022; $70.3 million in 2020. Up 10.6 percent.

Net income: $61.6 million in 2022; $34.9 million in 2020. Up 76.6 percent.

The Packers set records for profit, total revenue and total expenses. Player salaries make up the majority of expenses. COVID had an impact there, too.

“The salary cap went down due to the pandemic. What we did was we negotiated and pushed a lot of collectively bargained benefits into the 2022 fiscal-year,” Murphy said. “We did end up reworking and renegotiating a lot of player contracts. Quite honestly, we did some things we probably would not have done were it not for the pandemic and the financial situation that we saw ourselves in.”

The corporate reserve fund reached $500 million before the stock market’s fall pushed that down to about $440 million.

The stock sale, which ended on Feb. 25, generated $64.7 million, with that money used to fund stadium projects. According to Murphy, the team has invested $467 million into the stadium over the last 11 years. Once new videoboards are up and concourse renovations are complete, that total will move to $600 million.

With the addition of about 177,000 shareholders, the franchise now has about 539,000 “owners” with nothing but pride to show for their investment.

“I think the league has done an excellent job of managing our business,” Murphy said. “From a Packers standpoint, I think the fact that we’ve won on a consistent basis certainly helps. I do think the fact that we’ve continued to invest in the stadium and the game experience, I think that has served us well. I think you have to make sure you’re investing and providing a good experience.”

Packers Profit From Operations

2022: $77.7 million (record)

2021: $38.8 million loss (due to COVID)

2020: $70.3 million

2019: $0.7 million

2018: $34.1 million

2017: $65.4 million

2016: $75.0 million (previous record)

2015: $39.4 million

2014: $25.5 million

2013: $54.3 million

2012: $43.0 million