Even with their loyal, world wide fan base and unique public ownership, the Packers are able to continue to exist in small market Green Bay for only two principle reasons. In 1961 the National Football League made the seminal decision to equally share it's national TV revenue. Then in 1994 the league began operating under a clearly defined salary cap, meaning everybody can only spend the same amount of money on players. It has always been gospel that without these two policies the Packers could not survive.

Well, this past week the team had its annual stockholders meeting, virtually of course, and the news was good......very good. The Packers are in excellent financial shape. So good in fact, you could make the case that even if the salary cap went away, as many believe it eventually will, the Pack would not only survive, it would thrive.

President Mark Murphy reported record revenue of $507 million in the fiscal year ended March 31. It's the first time the team has exceeded half a billion dollars in one year. Total expenses were given as $437 million, yielding a $70 million operating profit. Murphy says by far the biggest expense is player salaries. The cap for the current year is just over $198 million.

But what if the cap went away?   What if teams could spend as much as they want on players?   No doubt the uncapped NFL world would  be a scary place.   It wouldn't be just the established stars getting huge deals.   Imagine what kind of salary figure rookies like Joe Burrow and Tua Tagavailoa could command to sign with the teams that drafted them.   Remember Sam Bradford?   The quarterback out of Oklahoma had the good fortune to be the last overall number one pick to negotiate with his team, the St. Louis Rams, before the rookie salary cap went into effect.   Bradford broke the bank with a $78 million deal, $50 million of which was guaranteed, the highest figure ever at that time.  If that sort of landscape became the rule around the NFL, could the Packers compete?

So long as TV revenue sharing remains in place, I believe Green Bay would be okay.  Murphy reports that national revenue (read "TV money") accounts for roughly two thirds of the Packers total income.   In its 2018 annual report, the Packers revealed they received $255 million from TV contracts for that season.   That figure went up in 2019 and will continue to rise.   As you can see, and as Murphy confirmed Thursday, TV money more than covers player salaries. Without it Green Bay would be in deep trouble. I might add, so would many other franchises.

Now, naturally, if there's no boundaries, the bidding for star players, perhaps even mediocre ones, would skyrocket.    Salary expenses would rise, maybe even in excess of the TV revenue income.   How would the Packers make up the diffference? 

The best players want two things: They want top money, and they want to compete for championships. Green Bay's most important free agent signing of all time, Reggie White, did not come to Titletown because he likes to play in the snow. He came because the Packers outbid all of his other suitors.   And he could see that Ron Wolf would surround him with championship caliber players.

Without a cap, is there enough money coming in to allow Green Bay to attract enough good players to continue to compete for titles?     In 2019 the Packers ranked 10th in the league in revenue.   They would need to have enough coming in to hang around in that top ten.   Where would the cash come from?   The answer is several places.   There is the obvious,  ticket sales, concessions, merchandise,  local broadcast revenue, rental of the atrium facilities, Hall of Fame, etc.   The team's reserve fund stands at $411 million.   (That sounds like a pile of money, but consider that Patrick Mahomes deal alone is worth $450 million if it plays out.)   

There would be tremendous pressure on scouting departments to identify diamonds in the rough and players who can outperform their salary amounts.. 

But what Green Bay would really need is a huge recurring source of income unrelated to football, something to compete with Jerry Jones' oil wells and Shad Khan's automotive empire.

This is where the vision and foresight of Mark Murphy and Chief Operating Officer Ed Policy comes in to play.   The brilliant concept of the Titletown District figures to be Green Bay's oil well.   Eventually, the project will generate revenue to the Packers from townhouses, apartment towers, high end restaurants, high tech think tanks, recreation areas and much more.   There may be limitations as to what money sources can be used for players, but the overall result should be adequate cash to keep facilities upgraded and to bid for the players needed to keep the Green and Gold in the playoff hunt for generations to come.  

The new ten year extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, including the recent Covid 19 adjustments,  means it is unlikely the salary cap is going away any time soon, but if and when it does, don't worry about the Green Bay Packers.   Not only can the team on the field play with the big boys, but it now appears the guys in the business office can as well.