The Packers brought in more than half a billion dollars in the last fiscal year, but that almost certainly won’t be the case this year, with drastically reduced ticket sales because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite that, the team expects to be profitable.
“I think we are safely north of what the break-even point is, just based on the current conversation of where the number of fans will be,” Packers V.P. of Finance and Administration Paul Baniel said, via the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
NFL teams make most of their money from TV contracts, and that money will be unchanged by empty stadiums. Lost ticket revenues certainly affect teams’ bottom lines, but Baniel’s comments suggest that the effect is not so great as to cause teams to lose money.
Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy said the team will not push to sell tickets if the public health authorities don’t think it’s safe.
“Any decision on fans will be made on health and safety reasons, not economic reasons,” Murphy said. “We are following CDC guidelines.”