Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers, winners of Super Bowl whatever, the pre-eminent festival of gluttonous consumption. Actually it was a great game. But I'm not here to Monday morning quarterback—Blogtown ain't no home for sports babble.
It is worth point out, however, that the Packers are the only publicly owned franchise in all of major sports. Technically, they're a non-profit. Over 100,000 fans own some near-five million shares. Each shareholder is limited to 200,000 shares.
Green Bay's business model, however, runs contrary to John Canzano's recent assertion that Portland fans are the ones who really own the Trail Blazers. In acutality, Blazer fans are at the mercy of a stoic billionaire who helicopters from one playboy toy to the next like a ping pong ball. Without landing a Kevin Durant type player in the draft, Portland stays relevant larely through Allen's checkbook, depending on how wide he decides to open it (sorry Greg Oden). As of late, things are in flux.
The NBA is hemorrhaging dollars and headed towards a labor crisis. So is the NFL, despite is raking in record numbers and profit. But that the Packers, a publicly-owned team in a small media market can band together—organize, if you will—to win the Super Bowl, surely it is also a win for workers everywhere.
Or at least through the lens of sensationalized sports writing.