Football sucks. Boring and slow paced, just like baseball. Stop and Go play could put me to sleep.

That's why I only watch jai alai.

Yes, but Green Bay is the BEST boring and slow paced team.

Stop derailing, fascist scum.

They can be bought for $250 a share. My friend recently did that, got a nice certificate and all.

Yeah, that's how I got mine.

Very impressive and official looking certificate indeed - granting the bearer exactly zero influence.

Point being that it doesn't matter. It's a bargain at any price.

But not living in Wisconsin, you probably don't have the ability to understand that :P

Are you making the ludicrous suggestion that Green Bay is the only profitable football team? I’m not disagreeing that Green Bay has a good thing going with the public ownership…but it is *still* capitalism, my friend.

You are more than welcome to put together a community of people and make an offer for *any* NFL team, and you will succeed if price if right.

This is in contrast to, say, a business with unionized labor in a state without right-to-work laws (a topic close to my heart in Michigan these days…) where I can bring my resume to the owner, demonstrate my qualifications and skill and offer myself to you at a reasonable rate of pay…but I can’t work for you unless I go through the union…who will take money from me even though I negotiated my own wages with you, and thus take food from my children’s mouths…

I am a private worker. I work because I’m good at it, and I negotiate my own compensation and you keep me around because we mutually benefit one another…not because you are afraid of losing your business to a strike…

BTW...Wisconsin is another fine right-to-work state!

Didn't Michigan just pass a right to work law yesterday? I have no clue when it takes effect.

No, Krellin, there is absolutely no capitalist argument or undertones here. The fact that you see one speaks a lot about the way you see the world.

The fact that you apparently measure the success of a pro team based solely on its profit margin speaks volumes more.

My point, dear sir, is that we have the best team because the fans are the owners. It fosters a sense of community and pride that even die-hard fans like Pittsburgh can't match. That's what sets us aside and that's what makes us special.


And no, you cannot buy the Green Bay Packers for any price. Look into it.

Yellow, in the absence of profits, there would be NO NFL, and no Green Bay Packers. Get your head out of the sand, boy.

If I offered the good citizens of Green Bay a trillion dollars and negotiated a deal in whcih they could still have 100% management of the team, I think I would own the Green Bay Packers.

The NFL is a capitalist venture collectively. I admit, it's a bit of a hybrid thing...but there are individuals owners. Without profit, the NFL would not exist.
For that matter, silly boy, without profits most people would be unemployed, and your precious government would have no money with which to operate.

I laugh at fools that disdain profits...and wonder if they realize they wouldn't have a house and food without it...?

Am I the only one who thinks the OP has the potential to become lyrics to pop music? It just has a ring to it.

But Yes, Yellow - I understand your Green Bay pride thing is not money driven. I am just pointing out that Green Bay - the aberant of the league - exists only because the community bought the team...it was created by capitalists originally...

Krellin:

I'm not going to get into a debate over the merits of capitalism with you. I agree with most of what you're saying. You still seem to think this is in any way about money. It isn't.

You already CAN offer the Packers a trillion dollars and get exactly that deal. Just buy 4 billion shares and you can be a part of history too! So while that argument is true, it is meaningless. You would just be the same kind of owner I am.

I guess you can't buy more than 200,000 shares though Krellin, that's what the articles of incorporation say.

Buying "stock" in the Green Bay Packers is the WORST investment you could possibly make. Other than getting a certificate to put on your wall, you get no meaningful voting rights and you get a chance to buy "exclusive" team merchandise. It pays no dividends and isn't even tax deductible. Even worse, it doesn't even get you on the season tickets list.

Yellow - I was not trying to get in to a debate about the merits of capitalism. And I do appreciate your Green Bay pride...I think it's cute. lol I'm glad to see you acknowledging capitalism exists as the framework in which in which cheeseheads thrive...

Yeah I'm assuming this wasn't an investment, more like a memorabilia purchase.

YJ, did you purchase from the organization or are they all sold out and only sold at secondary markets?

So is there a second class of stock with voting rights? Who really owns the team?

@2WL you're probably a Vikings fan. You wouldn't understand. It's not an investment in the traditional sense. Go sit in your empty dome and boo your own team, and think about how it's a waste :P



@Krellin It shouldn't be TOO much of a surprise. I don't think I've ever bashed capitalism at it's fundamental level too badly here. My main gripe is... well, for another thread :P

The NFL is the most communist of the major sports though Krellin, unlike Baseball the revenue from the teams is distributed equally among the teams, meaning each team has roughly the same budget, and if it were baseball a team like green bay would be of the worst teams in the league (due to being a small town so would heavily lack revenue), rather then one of the best like football.

I support it being somewhere in between (like hockey) where there is a salary cap to prevent the rich teams from buying all the good players but they are still entitled to the revenue they produce.

In any case I haven't watched any sports at all this year, and wont until hockey comes back. FUCK THE PLAYERS AND THE FUCKING UNION FOR THIS FUCKING STRIKE!

Like seriously, why does a job where the average wage in 2.5 million a year need a union? Why protest and earn $0 for the year to prevent a salary decrease of 7%? All this means is hockey fans like me wont get to watch hockey for the year. :(

General Lee, the team is public, owned by the stock holders, but all the profits go to the American Legion, from what I can see.

YJ, I'm a Giants fan, so the next time you gaze longingly at your stock certificate and dream of someday maybe winning a Super Bowl with your pretty boy discount double check douchebag, think of how soundly the Giants have beaten your ass during our last two Super Bowl seasons :)

Now if only the Bungles ...er... Bengals would get something like that going, then we could give Brown the boot and send him back to Cleveland. The taxpayers already own both stadiums, we should at leats own one of the two teams and the Bengals need new management anyhow.

"Shares of stock include voting rights, but the redemption price is minimal, no dividends are ever paid, the stock cannot appreciate in value (though private sales often exceed the face value of the stock), and stock ownership brings no season ticket privileges. While newly purchased shares can be given as gifts, once ownership is established, transfers are technically allowed only between immediate family members. No shareholder may own over 200 shares, a safeguard to ensure that no individual can assume control of the club. To run the corporation, a board of directors is elected by the stockholders."

Per wiki it is voting stock so that makes more sense. Someone has to decide who runs the team.

"YJ, I'm a Giants fan, so the next time you gaze longingly at your stock certificate and dream of someday maybe winning a Super Bowl with your pretty boy discount double check douchebag, think of how soundly the Giants have beaten your ass during our last two Super Bowl seasons :)"
I'm not going to point out the fact that Green Bay was the second last team to win a super bowl. Yes the Giants defeated Green Bay last year, but Green Bay one the year before, giving YJ far more merit to be happy then a patriots fan like me, who was defeated by the Giants twice now in superbowl finals

Fasces - it is not a communist adventure....sigh....it is a capitalist venture in which the private owners have all agreed to an operating framework which they can change if and when they want. If it were communist, they wouldn't have a vote, my friend.

I understand your thrust...it is just wrong and misguided and a lame attempt to find something somewhere where communism has succeeded.

It is, in fact, brilliant capitalism that caused them to implement rules to keep teams on a even keel such that there would be competition and keep people coming back to see games.

Anyway....everyone knows the Lions are going to the super bowl....NEXT year....<sigh...>