Packers Have $411 Million Rainy-Day Fund

With games to be played in front of perhaps 10,000 fans, the Packers have taken a line of credit to help get through any financial difficulties stemming from the pandemic.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With most of the fiscal-year concluded before COVID-19 shuttered the doors of Lambeau Field and created the prospects for an unprecedented season, the Green Bay Packers reported their first fiscal-year of revenues topping a half-billion dollars.

Packers President/CEO Mark Murphy knows tougher times are ahead. Fans will not be allowed at training camp, which will take a big bite out of Pro Shop sales. Games will be played at greatly reduced capacities, which will sharply impact the amount of money made on tickets and concessions.

“Our revenue will definitely go down this year,” Murphy said on Tuesday in a Zoom call previewing Thursday’s virtual shareholders meeting. “It’s just the reality. We’re working through the exact numbers, but if we do have fans, obviously there’s no preseason games this year, no fans for Family Night, so things are different in that sense. We haven’t made a decision yet but, if we do have fans, it’s going to be at a significantly reduced capacity.”

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Fortunately for the Packers, they have a corporate reserve fund totaling $411 million. That rainy-day fund will help the team get through any potential disasters due to the pandemic.

“We’re hopeful not to tap into it,” Murphy said. “We’ve done some things to improve our liquidity that we think will help us avoid having to tap into the corporate reserve fund. …

“The purpose of the corporate reserve fund is emergencies. When we put it together, we thought it would be most likely a prolonged strike or a lockout. We didn’t think of a pandemic. Hopefully, this will not be a long-term impact on the organization but if it does, we do have it there and we may use it. Right now, it doesn’t look like we’ll have to.”

The team’s vice president of finance and administration, Paul Baniel, said the team has taken a line of credit through a group of local banks. With interest rates being low and the stock market having bounced back from pandemic lows, the team decided that was the best way to address any short-term financial shortfalls.

“We think that line is our first line of defense, if you will, and should allow us to avoid going into our reserve fund,” Baniel said.

Earlier in the month, the team announced it would be playing with a “significantly reduced” capacity at Lambeau Field. The logistics, which are daunting considering its two massive season-ticket bases, are still being worked out.

“I hate to sound like Dr. Fauci but we’re going to let the pandemic decide for us,” Murphy said. “We’re obviously going to monitor locally as well as across the state. In terms of the number of fans, it’s going to be very reduced. Initial estimates will probably between 10,000 and 12,000 seating capacity. Even if we do have fans, it’s going to be a very different feel and experience in the stadium than anything we have seen in the past. I think we want to ease into it. It’s going to be a challenge hosting games, playing a game, keeping our players healthy, our staff healthy, our coaches healthy, and then you add on top of that making sure that our fans stay healthy. We’ve got a number of things to think about. I think our approach is we’re going to walk before we run. We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves.”

Even with that minimal number of fans in the stadium, the team will at least not lose money on game days.

Not that that’s the overriding concern. Of Green Bay's $506.9 million total revenue, $296 million came from a national level - mostly TV contracts. That's almost 60 percent of its revenue before a single fan enters the stadium or buys a jersey.

“Any decision on whether or not to have fans in the stands this year will be made for health and safety reasons and not economic reasons,” Murphy said.