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Note: According to the company's "Shareholder & Financial History," the rights of the 112,120 shareholders of Greenbay Packers, Inc., are essentially limited to voting on corporate governance matters. Economic interests consist only of a non-marketable right to redemption of shares at a "minimal" price, with no dividends and provisions to distribute liquidating assets to a foundation. |
Green Bay Press-Gazette, June 19, 2010 article
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BY RICHARD RYMAN • rryman@greenbaypressgazette.com • June 19, 2010 |
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NFL commissioner Roger Goodell speaks to youth football players on Thursday, June 17, 2010, in the Queens borough of New York. Goodell will have a lot to talk about when he attends the Green Gay Packers’ annual meeting next month. (Frank Franklin II/AP) |
NFL
commissioner Roger Goodell will have a lot to talk about when he attends the
Green Bay Packers’ annual meeting next month.
The Packers announced Friday that Goodell would attend the July 29 gathering
at Lambeau Field and answer shareholder questions after its conclusion. It
is the first time anyone can recall an NFL commissioner attending the annual
meeting.
Topics are sure to include negotiations for a new collective bargaining
agreement with players, a related potential lockout and player suspensions.
Two Packers, Johnny Jolly and Brandon Underwood, are facing legal issues
that could lead to league-imposed suspensions.
Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy said Friday that Goodell has shown an
interest in talking to fans, having held two forums already.
“I think he is really making an effort to make sure he and the league as a
whole are in touch with the fans and what they want,” he said. “The fans
will be able to hear directly from the commissioner. That’s a pretty unique
opportunity.”
Murphy acknowledged that anything teams or league officials do could be seen
as trying to affect ongoing negotiations with the NFL Players Association
for a new collective bargaining agreement.
“It is so central to everything we are doing as a league, it would be hard
to separate it from anything we do,” he said.
Goodell’s appearance could increase attendance at the event, scheduled for
11 a.m. July 29 in Lambeau Field. The record is 18,707 in 1998, the year
after the Packers’ second Super Bowl appearance and the first year it was
held in the stadium. About 7,500 people attended last year’s meeting,
compared with 10,000 in 2008 and 11,200 in 2007.
The Packers are the only publicly owned NFL team. The organization has
112,120 shareholders.
Information about the commissioner’s visit is included in proxy information
that was sent shareholders this week, the team said. Shareholders are being
asked to vote proxies online in an effort to streamline the process. They
also can submit questions for Goodell when voting proxies online.
Shareholders and their guests also can submit questions in writing the day
of the meeting.
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Copyright ©2010 |
