Packers leaders discussing stock sale

GREEN BAY - Peter Reinhart says nothing proves a fan's loyalty to the Green Bay Packers like a stock certificate.

“I own 1,008 shares,” said Reinhart.

The reason Reinhart owns so many shares is because he inherited a share his father bought in the ‘50s. It was one of the team’s 19,000 shares.

In 1997, stockholders agreed to split the shares 1,000-to-1 for another stock sale, which helped fund the renovation of Lambeau Field. Shares were sold for $200 a piece.

Now the Packers are looking at another sale to help pay for the $130 million expansion of the stadium's south end zone.

• Learn more about the expansion plans
• See renderings of the expanded Lambeau Field

“A lot of people would love to say they are owners of a world champion football team,” said Mark Murphy, the Packers President and CEO.

Packers officials say they will attempt to get approval from the NFL for the sale.

“We have been fairly inundated with calls and requests to have another stock sale,” said Jason Wied, the Packers Vice President of Administration.

The shares that potentially could be for sale date back to the 1997 decision to split the team’s original shares. That is when stockholders decided to make up to a million shares available for purchase to help fund capital improvements.

The Packers say they don't have a price set for the next potential sale.

“If they price it too low, they are leaving money on the table. If they price it too high then people who otherwise would have bought it, might pass on it, so they have to find the kind of goldilocks price,” said Kevin Quinn, a sports economist and professor at St. Norbert College.

No matter the price, demand is expected to be high for Packers stock, even if it doesn't pay dividends or appreciate in value.

“You'll become a proud owner of the Packers,” said Reinhart. “You'll get to hang it on your wall and the bottom line is that's just one more piece of being a part of this team.”

The 1997-98 stock sale raised more than $24 million for the Lambeau Field expansion project.

Murphy says he hopes to raise just as much, if not more with another potential stock sale.