Packers President & CEO Mark Murphy on Thursday "defended the team’s decision to increase ticket prices for the fifth consecutive season," according to Mike Vandermause of the GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE. Murphy said, "It’s really a balancing act. On one hand we want to be affordable, but on the other hand we want to be fair to the other teams in the league. ... Quite honestly, the teams that are last or at the very bottom of the league in terms of ticket pricing aren’t the type of teams we would want to model ourselves after. They’re there because they haven’t had success on the field, or they have terrible stadiums, so it’s a number of factors.” He added that the Packers also "owe it to other teams in the league to provide a fair share of revenue." Murphy: “The concern with the other teams, we’re obviously somebody who over the years has benefited quite a bit from the league, from the revenue-sharing policies, and so we want to be viewed as a good league partner." He also said that the Packers "learned from the mistake of a new no-refund ticket billing policy that was imposed for the playoffs." Murphy: “There’s no question they were not happy with it. We will not do it again. We’re going to move to a pay-as-we-play policy in the future.” He added, "We’ve heard fans pretty loudly so we will not be doing that in the future.” Meanwhile, Murphy said the Packers "have not plans to expand" Lambeau Field." He added, "Where we’re really going to probably focus in the next few years is the premium seats." Additionally, Murphy said that he "hopes the Packers will play in London in the coming years." Murphy: "We would never give up a home game, it would only be an away game" (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE, 2/7).
