GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers held their annual shareholders meeting Monday at Lambeau Field. The Packers said 7,825 shareholders attended.
One of the items on the agenda was the formal election of Pro Football Hall of Famer, former Packers safety, and Spectrum News One’s Roundtable star LeRoy Butler to the Packers Board of Directors.
“I never really thought I would ever get into the Hall of Fame. I never really thought about being on the board of directors,“ Butler told Spectrum News after the meeting. “But my mom, she said, that's what you got to expect, things like this.”
“I can't say enough about how much he means to the organization,” said Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy. “A player like that, who stayed in the area, is a prominent figure, not only a successful player, a Hall of Fame player, but has gone on to do great things with his life. Yeah, actually we were talking about it coming off the field. Hopefully, people like Dexter McNabb and LeRoy are role models for our current players that football doesn't last forever.”
Butler hopes to use his position as a positive platform.
“I want kids to look like me,” said Butler. “Special needs kids, African-Americans in the projects, single family home in poverty, saying one day you can do this. And I appreciate that. So, I'm kind of like the beacon of light for the kids that want to do great things on and off the field. With this kind of platform, I could really help the people in the Wisconsin area. And then, we want to grow to show other teams how you connect with your fans.”
The figures had already been released last week, but the Packers reported record revenue of $610 million. Their net profit was down 9%, largely because of increasing player salaries.
Murphy praised Packers' General Manager Brian Gutekunst for having the vision to draft Jordan Love. Murphy said the Packers will retire the number of Aaron Rodgers and put him in the Packers Hall of Fame, when the time is right.
“I think the crowd responded positively to Jordan Love and mentions of him,” said Murphy. “I was also pleased at the cheering that we got when I talked about Aaron Rodgers. I thought that speaks highly of our fans. What Aaron did for us is obvious. It speaks for itself. Four-time MVP, dominant player in the league, Super Bowl MVP. It’ll be similar, I would imagine, to how we retired (Brett) Favre's number”
Packers fans will enjoy the new video boards in Lambeau Field. They’re more than twice as big as last year’s. Murphy looks forward to what this season will hold.
“We're a much different team than we were last year. Will be younger but yeah, I'm optimistic.”