The Green Bay Packers had their financial results released on Wednesday afternoon. In a press release, the team announced that its overall revenue reached a new team-record $324.1 million after being at $308.1 million last year. Yet the down side is that their profits decreased from a $54.3 million total in 2013 (which set a new franchise record), to $25.5 million in 2014. That puts the profit margin down about 53 percent from last season.
The release notes that the recent Lambeau Field expansion has paid immediate dividends:
The local increase came mostly from the expansion of Lambeau Field’s South End, which added 7,000 seats, boosting ticket and concession revenue considerably.
Local revenue should continue to increase this year after the recent renovations to the Pro Shop and Atrium help bring in more business. The Packers also said that they received $187.7 million in national revenue, with much of that coming in from the NFL's television rights, which are expected to continue expanding.
Expenses skyrocketed by $44.8 million, and that was due to an increase in player costs. The Packers spent almost $136 million on players in 2013, but in 2014 that number jumped to about $171 million. That increase includes the contract extensions of stars Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews last offseason, but due to the timing of the fiscal year, the signings of Julius Peppers and Sam Shields were also hitting the books in 2014.
Of course, the Packers are the only publicly-owned team in all of North American major professional sports, which is what requires them to release their financial results. As such, the team's numbers will likely be thoroughly scrutinized by other teams and the NFL Player's Association.