GREEN BAY, Wis. (NBC 26) -- Without a stadium at max capacity, without hungry fans heading to the concession stand, the Green and Gold’s pockets aren’t as full.
"This past year was a challenge economically, financially for the Packers," team President and CEO Mark Murphy said at a Friday financial session. "Our local revenue took a big hit."
Due to the COVID pandemic, the Packers' total revenue fell by $135.8 million in the last fiscal year. That comes after a 2020 that set a record with $506.9 million.
"The situation led to our first operating loss since the major renovation of Lambeau Field," Murphy said.
Without tourism, Green Bay’s football team also lost $149.1 million, all the way down to $61.8 million in 2021 local revenue.
But investment profits from the organization’s corporate reserve still allowed the Packers to make a net income of $60.7 million over the fiscal time frame.
"That’s the result of an unprecedented rebound in the investment markets after the March 2020 downturn," Murphy explained.
Television contracts also gave the team a boost with $309.2 million in national revenue over the past year.
"We still had an operating loss, but without that TV revenue, we’d be in a very difficult financial position," Murphy said.
All told, the Packers lost $38.8 million in operations.
"It was a pretty significant percentage of fans that just said you keep the money and that helped us get through the pandemic," the team president said. "A year ago was very different than how I feel now, just the unexpected."
