Green Bay Packers Stock

We’ve been getting a lot of calls and emails asking if we will be adding Green Bay Packers stock to our stock list. The answer is that we aren’t sure. The stock sale is supposed to start on December 6th. They intend to sell about 250,000 shares at $250 each plus a handling fee.

The reason we aren’t sure is because Green Bay Packers stock ain’t your typical stock. Yes, buyers will get the actual stock certificate, be invited to shareholder meetings, and qualify to buy merchandise only available to shareholders on packers.com. BUT Packers stock cannot be bought by businesses, cannot be sold (except back to the Packers at nominal price), and cannot be transferred (except within your immediate family).

After seeing all the things that one can’t do, I was all set to say that I’m not touching this with a ten foot pole. Then after a little more thought, I changed my mind at least in terms of whether I would buy it for myself. I started to think about its collectible value and the novelty of actually owning part of a sports dynasty. Guess what the Packers gave President Obama back in August when they visited the White House? Yep, a share of Green Bay Packers stock (see image at right). If it's good enough for the Pres, a Chicago Bear fan no less, its good enough for me.

Anyone notice what older shares of Packers stock is going for on Ebay or Scripophily.com? It’s pricey. I’d love to have a framed share hanging on my wall as a conversation piece. It’s not that I’m a die hard Packer fan –  it’s just cool. I can only imagine how a real cheese-head would feel. For me, just like with my old baseball and football cards, I’d never be able to part with my Packer stock no matter how much collectors were willing to pay! Well, maybe I would if it went totally crazy, but I’d have a tough time. I still have my Boston Celtics stock that is worth a bundle.

I also think back to all the Merrill Lynch Advisors who were buying Merrill Lynch stock certificates from us before they merged into Bank of America. They were craving the certificate before it went away forever, not as an investment, but because it was a piece of history that they would never be able to get again. The same is true for Pixar before they merged into Disney, Playboy stock before Hefner took them private, and most recently, Apple stock before they stopped issuing certificates in 2009.

In fact, all of the stock certificates that we offer at GiveAshare.com will become collectibles at some point as the whole industry moves toward electronic registration and away from paper stock certificates. As each one goes electronic, we try to buy some for our own personal collection but am always kicking myself for not getting more. It doesn’t help that in most cases where a company is going totally electronic, there is no warning – it just happens.

So I will be part of the crowd buying Packers stock at packers.com on the 6th more as a collector than as an owner of a business that offers stock gifts. For those die-hard Packer fans that want a piece of the action, I will see you there. If we can figure a way to offer Green Bay Packers stock here, we will do it!  Stay tuned.