Green Bay Packers finished the 2018 season with a 6-9-1 and would not qualify for the postseason for the second straight season. That was after the franchise had went to the playoffs each year from 2009-16.
On top of not playing well on the field, the franchise has taken a big hit of only a profit of $724,000 in the latest fiscal year, down 97.9 percent from $34.1 million the previous year, The Associated Press reports.
“From a financial standpoint, it was a unique year for the Packers,” team president Mark Murphy said Friday.
Not helping the situation also was the $134-million contract extension given to quarterback Aaron Rodgers in August. That combined with the expensive firing of Mike McCarthy and hiring of Matt LaFleur as head coach as well.
During free agency, the team handed expensive deals to Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Adrian Amos, and Billy Turner.
“We were a little more aggressive than we’ve been in a number of years,” Murphy said.
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“If we can get back to the playoffs and get to the Super Bowl, that always helps,” Murphy said. “We have a policy regarding our season-ticket pricing. We want to be just below the league average. We don’t want everything to be on the backs of our season-ticket holders.”
“The plan was that we had enough money to cover expenses for a year. I think we’re in very good shape with that,” Murphy said. “We don’t have a rich, deep-pocketed owner, so we have a $400 million corporate reserve. Three or four years ago, we put $50 million into the corporate reserve. It’s grown since then with investment returns, and we’ve made significant investments in real estate around this area.”
Rodgers threw for 4,442 yards and 25 touchdowns against only two interceptions during the 2018 season and that was despite suffering a tibial plateau fracture–a fracture of the upper part of the shinbone that involves the knee joint–and a sprained MCL.
