Venue Detail
Green Bay Packers
RSV Pro Facilities Report
March, 2014
Green Bay Packers
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1265 Lombardi Ave Green Bay, WI 54304 Phone: 920-569-7500 Fax: 920-569-7301 URL: www.packers.com Owner: Green Bay Packer Corp League: National Football League, NFC North
Venue
Lambeau Field, 1265 Lombardi Ave, Green Bay, WI 54304 Owner: City of Green Bay Managed by: Team Built: 1967 Capacity: 71,000 Permanent concession stands: 44 Concessionaire: Sportservice Suite caterer: The Levy Restaurants Soft drink: RC Cola Beer: Multiple
Ticket Prices
Season tickets range from $670 to $830 Single tickets range from $69.00 to $304.00
Attendance
2011 average attendance: 70,512 2012 average attendance: 70,507 2013 average attendance: 77,947
Suites
Quantity: 166 Term: 4 to 4 years Price: $57,000 to $133,000 Seats: 16 to 21
Club Seats
Quantity: 6,000 Term: 5 to 5 years Price: $2,010 to $2,980 Includes: Tickets, wait staff.
Financing
The $1.2 million stadium was funded by the city and the team, but because the team is a public, non-profit corporation, all funds are public.
Seat licenses
The team tied season tickets to license fees to help fund a $295 million renovation of Lambeau Field. Fans paid either $1,400 or $600 per ticket for the license. More than 93 percent of previous ticket holders paid the fees. More than 3,300 transferred ownership to other family members. The Packers believe the tickets may have been passed to younger family members who will be responsible for the fee because they will use the tickets longer.
Of those buying the licenses, 17 percent took advantage of a financing plan that gave buyers up to five years to pay the fee at 9.9 percent interest.
The Packers moved into a newly renovated Lambeau Field in 2003. The venue increased club seating from nearly 2,000 to 6,000 and reduced the number of luxury suites from 198 to 166. Capacity jumped from 60,789 to 71,000.
In 2011, the team went back to work with a new plan to add two entrances to the stadium, near the north and south scoreboards, in addition to already announced replacements of the sound system and the scoreboards. It will build a viewing terrace for club-seat ticket holders on the north end zone roof.
The total cost was about $143 million and was funded from a variety of sources including the sale of new shares of stock in the team.
In 2008, the Packers unveiled a $25 million plan to renovate the east side of the stadium. The franchise later tabled the plans.
The team's new lease has two five-year extensions and calls for the Packers to pay an annual administrative fee of $100,000. It also gives the team the rights to the Lambeau Field trademark, but requires the city and team to negotiate a division of revenue attributable to the lease at the end of the 30-year term. An agreement in 1996 gave the team the right to 75 percent of the revenue generated from the Lambeau Field name.
The renovation is generating more revenue for the Packers with $29.1 million in net income for 2004. That's a 25 percent increase from the fiscal year that closed at the end of March 2003. Team officials say the figures exceeded their expectations and they were 7 percent over expectations for local revenue.
The revenue figure puts the team in 10th place among other NFL franchises. The figures do not include payments made by the league for the expansion Texans. That payment was $2.1 million in 2003.
The Packers used some of their extra earnings to shore up their reserves with $30 million more going into the bank. The reserve now totals about $84 million. The team wants to have a one-year reserve, or about $113 million.
Total revenue was reported at $179.1 million in 2003 compared with $153.2 million in 2002. Operating expenses were $144.9 million compared with $130 million the previous year. Player costs increased 23 percent from $77.9 million to $96.1 million. Administrative expenses declined $900,000 to $15.3 million.
Television revenue was up 5 percent to $81.2 million from $77.1 million and was 45 percent of operating revenue. Gate earnings were $26.5 million compared with $20.5 million. Team officials said the jump in revenue came from the addition of 8,000 new seats.
Merchandise sales brought the team $4.7 million in net earnings on $15.4 million in sales. Sponsorship and marketing income was $14.1 million compared with $10.5 million the previous year.
The renovation was funded partially by a local sales tax increase and as part of that deal, some fans, for the first time will also get the chance to buy game-day tickets. For years, Lambeau Field has been sold out to season ticket buyers with a waiting list that stretched into the thousands.
The Packers Hall of Fame also moved into the renovated building. The work extended the stadium's lifespan by up to 30 years.
To make the deal work the Packers gave in to city demands and agreed to pay $500,000 for every regular season game missed because of construction delays and $250,000 for each pre-season game missed. The team had hoped to cap the payments at $1 million for regular season games.
As a compromise, the stadium board allowed the team to miss up to two pre-season games in the first two years of construction if they are made up between 2004 and 2010.
The Packers also agreed to a clause that requires that there be enough funds available at all times to ensure the project's completion. If the project goes out of balance, the Packers were required to pay construction costs until balance was restored.
The Packers invested $125.9 million, partially through a seat license fee. The team set up a financing plan for buyers. The investment would include $20.4 million from a recent stock sale and $13 million borrowed from the NFL. The Packers will also consider selling Naming Rights to the stadium's atrium.
Local voters approved a 0.5 percent sales tax that contributes $160 million. Another $9.1 million came from the state from infrastructure work. The team paid cost overruns.
The Packers also agreed to evenly split revenue from a potential Naming Rights sale with the city. The city pushed the Packers to consider a Naming Rights sale when the team had been hesitant to give up the historic Lambeau Field name. City officials sought to reduce taxpayers' liability and saw the sale as a way of ending a new sales tax sooner.
For the first time since the 1950s, the Packers in 1998 sold stock in the team in an effort to raise money for stadium and other capital improvements. The league prohibited the team from using any of the $80 million it hoped to raise for player salaries. Shares sold for $200 and cannot appreciate in value. (Facilities, Financial, NFL, Professional Sports, Venue)