Signed jerseys, logo tattoos and “fan caves” are among the best ways to prove your faithfulness to your team — but the ultimate cachet for the hardcore fan? Own a piece of the franchise. Besides the ultimate thrill of telling your friends and co-workers that you’re part-owner of a major sports franchise, sports is very big business. The average NFL team is valued at a cool $1 billion. And while the valuation of most MLB, NBA and NHL franchises pales by comparison, they remain very lucrative businesses.
Unfortunately, most major professional sports teams are privately held, so your options are somewhat limited. Still, there are a few opportunities out there for the avid sports fan investor, starting with the NFL’s only publicly-owned team — the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers.
Today, 112,158 shareholders own some 4.7 million shares of the team. Back in 1923 when the Packers were incorporated, the bylaws were written so that no shareholder could own more than 200,000 shares — a protection against someone taking control of the team and moving it from Green Bay.
Packers’ stock is very different than the shares of most public companies. There’s no ticker symbol, it doesn’t trade on any exchange and shareholders don’t receive a dividend. What’s even more unusual: You can only buy Packers stock when the team wants to sell it, and you can only sell the stock back to the team. And the Packers have offered stock for sale only four times in their history: in 1923, 1935, 1950 and 1997. The 1997 sale, which priced shares at $200, raised more than $24 million and added 105,989 new shareholders.
But Packer fans who missed out on the chance to buy into the team during the Brett Favre era might soon have the chance to own a piece of the Pack and its current Super Bowl champion gunslinger, Aaron Rodgers. Last week, the NFL gave the Packers approval for a potential stock sale to fund new stadium improvements. While regulatory hurdles remain, the team is looking to raise as much as $130 million through the potential offering to finance major Lambeau Field improvements — without taxpayer funds.
Sports fan investors who aren’t all that keen on the Packers aren’t entirely out of luck when it comes to owning a piece of a major sports franchise. The choices are limited, and the path is slightly less direct. You need to buy shares of the corporate owners of the teams. Here are four more ways to inject that thrill of victory into your portfolio:
Atlanta Braves
Baseball fans who relish the pitching of Tim Hudson and Derek Lowe can buy into this NL East team’s owner, Liberty Capital Group (NASDAQ:LCAPA). Stock of $6.22 billion market-cap Liberty is trading at $76.36, nearly 40% above its 52-week low last October.
New York Knicks/New York Rangers
Carmelo Anthony and Ryan Callahan? Yup, New York fans get two for the price of one. Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSG), which has a market cap of $1.81 billion, owns both the NBA’s Knicks and the NHL’s Rangers. At $23.92, the stock is trading nearly 21% below its 52-week high in April.
Seattle Mariners
Despite the fact that Seattle’s MLB franchise hasn’t made the playoffs since 2001, the Mariners still have loyal fans. And their corporate owner, Nintendo (PINK:NTDOY), has as strong a following (albeit among video gamers) as you could want. NTDOY has a market cap of $2.46 billion, and at $19.20, it is trading about 8% above its 52-week low in August.
Toronto Blue Jays
If you’re OK with tracking the Blue Jays’ poor progress through the loaded AL East, tracking the performance of the team’s parent, Rogers Communications (NYSE:RCI), might be up your alley. Stock of the $19.56 billion market-cap company hit a new 52-week low of $32.27 on Oct. 4 and is now trading at $35.79. But unlike making a trip to the Rogers Centre, owning RCI might pay off — the stock has a dividend yield of 4%.
As of this writing, Susan J. Aluise did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.
