RandBall: Thanks to Packers, we know how rich the Vikings and rest of NFL are

The NFL salary cap for the 2024 season was set at a $255.4 million and jumped up this season to $279.2 million, which is one sign that the league is in very healthy financial shape.

But the Packers, as they do every year, gave us a look at just how much wealth there truly is in the league.

Green Bay is the only publicly owned franchise in the NFL. ESPN reports that there are “approximately 5,204,615 shares of stock owned by 539,029 stockholders,” though, of course, none of those pieces of paper generate any dividends for those owners (my italics).

That has always struck me as a raw deal for fans who invest in the team, but it certainly isn’t my money. What the public ownership arrangement does ensure is that the team’s finances are a matter of public record.

This week, as I talked about on Thursday’s Daily Delivery podcast, we learned that in the last fiscal year, the Packers received $432.6 million in national revenue sharing from the league.

Because that revenue sharing is equal, we know that’s the same amount the Vikings and every other NFL team received.

“That’s mostly the growth in the national TV deals,” said Mark Murphy, the outgoing Packers team president. “The league has it so they’re trying to grow at about a 7 percent growth rate annually. And then the other thing I think the league’s done a good job of is moving more towards streaming, but still a vast majority of our national revenue is coming from broadcast television.”

Since inflation has been such a hot topic lately, I was curious what the current figure would be if the league had merely grown along with yearly inflation. In that case, teams would be getting a little over $214 million per year — less than half of that $432.6 million figure.

Murphy estimated that national revenue represents about 60% of the Packers’ total revenue, meaning their total revenue last fiscal year was around $720 million.

That figure will vary from team to team since the rest of the revenue is more dependent on ticket sales and other local revenue, but it boggles the mind that the Packers’ revenue last fiscal year was roughly $465 million more than the salary cap.

Teams, of course, have other operational expenses, including travel, stadium fees and salaries for coaches and staff.

But suffice to say, the Packers, Vikings and every other NFL team are doing pretty nice business. And we have Green Bay to thank for knowing a lot of the specifics.