By Juliet Sokol
I
grew up in a small town in northwestern Wisconsin. The Minnesota
Vikings fans lurked just across the state border, waiting to criticize
and ridicule Packer fans any chance they got. In the shadow of the
enemy, my little community fought back by flaunting our Packer pride,
blasting them with our Green Bay Packers flags, stickers and yard
ornaments.
We felt connected in that pride – a community of fans, a far-flung
family that bleeds green and gold.
It’s clear the connection people feel with the Packers goes
beyond Green Bay and even beyond Wisconsin. No other team in the
NFL can boast such a universal connection. Not the Bears;
not the Chiefs; not even the Vikings.
More than any other team in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers connect
millions of fans from around the nation with one another. The same
pride and loyalty can be found in every Packer fan whenever they
watch or listen to the team play. Just look at ticket
sales.
Packer games have consistently sold out since the 1960s. The waiting
list for season tickets is 30 years or more, but fans gladly place
their names on it anyway. In the history of football, no team has
ever had such a high ticket demand.
The connection many Packer fans feel with one another goes beyond team
loyalty. The Packers have the distinction of being the only team in
the NFL owned by its fans. The team has sold 4.75 million shares to
investors, a.k.a fans. The fans buy the stock with full knowledge they
will never receive any dividends or share-price appreciation. They
simply buy it to be a partial owner of a legendary team. Ownership
like this brings millions of fans together to be a part of one thing.
To repay the fan loyalty, the team created the Green Bay Packers Foundation in
1986. The foundation gives back to the community by giving aid to programs that
benefit education, youth, health services and much more. Since the foundation
was created, it has donated more than $1 million to charities.
The Packers also repay this loyalty by exemplifying leadership through such coaches
and players as Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Mike Holmgren, Reggie
White and Brett Favre. Lombardi and Starr brought Super Bowl I and II titles
home to Green Bay. They pioneered this new territory successfully and in doing
so, gained respect for their leadership from football fans for generations to
come. In the nine seasons Lombardi coached, he won 75 percent of his games. Starr
earned back-to-back Super Bowl MVP awards.
And Favre, I don’t even know where to begin. More than 180 consecutive
starts, injured or not; one of the top quarterbacks in passing yards since
the NFL began; never hesitates to throw a block to help his running back gain
extra
yardage and is just an overall nice guy. Favre embodies what every American
dreams of in an athlete and in a leader. Players like Favre are important because
they
act as positive role models for millions of football fans.
The Green Bay Packers give back to the community, not just because their fans
enjoy watching them win on Sundays, but because their team creates a community
that never would have existed without them. They are role models and exemplify
leadership to millions of fans every time they step on the field. But most
of all, the Packers have captured the hearts of football fans not only in Wisconsin’s
heartland but all over the country. Their dedication to community has made them
America’s team.
