Annual Meeting: Packers welcome more than 14,000 shareholders to Lambeau Field

GREEN BAY (WITI) – The prices of Green Bay Packers preseason tickets may be changing, but it would come with a small catch. That was just one issue discussed during Thursday's annual shareholders meeting at Lambeau Field.

The team said 14,759 shareholders were at the team’s meeting. Another 10,000 watched through a private web stream, the team said. The Packers have about 364,000 owners.

The meeting is held each year in the open seating bowl of Lambeau. Shareholders heard about a number of topics, including a possible change that would primarily impact season ticket holders.

Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy said the team is exploring a variable pricing model for game tickets.

That would mean some matchups, like preseason games, would cost less than others. But some other games would be more expensive.

“You’re going to end up, the total season ticket cost will be about the same, but it’s distributed differently,” said Murphy.

Murphy said about 10 other NFL franchises are currently using the variable pricing model. He said the Packers will learn from their experiences.

Season ticket holder Sandy Van Asten of Plover hopes the change is made in Titletown.

“It would make more sense because a lot of times you can buy preseason tickets cheaper online anyhow than what the face value of them are,” said Van Asten.

Another season ticket holder, Toby Oreshoski of Menominee, Michigan, said a change would not affect him.

“Cause I’ll go to (the games) anyways. I’m assuming they’re going to balance it all out so it would be an equal amount of pay through the whole season," Oreshoski said.

Also during the meeting, Murphy reminded shareholders the ‘pay-as-we-play’ policy will go into effect for the 2014 playoffs. Fans will only be charged for playoff tickets after the team makes the post-season and gets a home game.

Murphy also discussed the team’s finances. Earlier this month, he said the Packers made a profit of $25.6 million during the 2014 fiscal year.

However, that was down more than half from the previous year. Murphy said that’s due to the timing of player contracts and a devaluation of the new south end zone stands.

General Manager Ted Thompson also spoke briefly, giving a quick break-down of the team’s star players and this year’s draft picks. Which draft pick got the loudest cheers? Former Badgers wide receiver Jared Abbrederis.

Fans needed a ticket to get in, and they needed to own at least one share of stock to get a ticket. Shareholders could also tour the new Packers Pro Shop and the re-landscaped Harlan Plaza.