Continued growth in NFL broadcast rights revenue partially offset big spending increases for the Packers in '18. The club posted a narrow $700,000 operating profit on nearly $477.9M in revenue last year, down from a $34.1M profit in '17. Fox Sports’ purchase of a five-year “TNF” package helped push the team’s share of national revenue up 7.2% to $274.3M. However, with the team missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year, local revenue grew by just 2.3% to $203.7M. After the Packers’ profits peaked at $75M in '16, the figures have declined each of the past three seasons. Expenses this year were up 13.4% due to the team’s contribution to the retired players’ concussion settlement fund, QB Aaron Rodgers’ $134M contract extension and severance costs for fired coach Mike McCarthy and his staff. Local revenue growth was soft for the second straight year after a period of strong gains on the heels of Lambeau Field renovations, which were mostly completed in '13. Packers President & CEO Mark Murphy said this reflects the second straight non-playoff season, the first time that has happened since '05-06. Murphy said the expenditures growth was unusual: “In spite of the, I would say, unique or atypical financial expenses, I think the Packers are still in a very strong financial position" (Ben Fischer, THE DAILY).
TALK OF THE TITLETOWN: Murphy said, "We were a little more aggressive than we’ve been in a number of years." He added, "We don’t have a rich, deep-pocketed owner, so we have a $400 million corporate reserve. Three or four years ago, we put $50 million into the corporate reserve. It’s grown since then with investment returns and we’ve made significant investments in real estate around this area" (AP, 7/12). Murphy said that in the past eight years, the Packers have invested more than $370M in "expansion and renovation" of Lambeau Field. He added that the Titletown mixed-use development is "starting to contribute to revenue." In Milwaukee, Nick Williams noted revenue will "likely increase in the coming years with a new restaurant and bar that will include TopGolf Suites' high-tech simulation bays coming to the TitletownTech building" before the '19 NFL season opens (BIZJOURNALS.com, 7/12). In Green Bay, Richard Ryman noted the second phase of the Titletown District includes "townhouses, apartments and an office building." Site work "began in June." Murphy: "We are almost two years into Titletown and it's really having the impact we had hoped. All of our tenants have had successful first years" (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE, 7/13).
|
PACKERS' STATEMENT OF INCOME
|
| REVENUE (000) |
'19
|
'18
|
+/- $
|
+/- %
|
| National |
$274.3
|
$255.9
|
+ $18.4
|
+ 7.2%
|
| Local |
203.7
|
199.0
|
+ 4.7
|
+ 2.3%
|
| Total Revenue |
$477.9
|
$454.9
|
+ 23.0
|
+ 5.1%
|
| Total Expenses |
477.2
|
420.9
|
+ 56.4
|
+ 13.4%
|
| Profit from Operations |
$.7
|
$34.1
|
-33.3
|
- 97.9%
|
| Net Income |
$8.4
|
$38.6
|
- $30.2
|
- 78.3%
|
