News-Chronicle
Ralph Nader and a fan group he founded are getting involved with the issue of Lambeau Field naming rights.
Nader released a letter Monday that he is sending to the Green Bay Packers and the National Football League asking them to pay more toward the stadium renovation to ease the burden on Brown County taxpayers. Nader, the Green Party presidential candidate in 2000, is a consumer advocate and author.
The letter, issued by a Nader group called League of Fans, asks both the team and league, as "nonprofit organizations," to contribute toward keeping the name of the stadium as Lambeau Field.
It notes the efforts of a grassroots "Save Lambeau" campaign that is asking fans and corporations to donate to pay part of the renovation bill, replacing any money that would come from naming rights. The group has raised nearly $2,000.
"There are two corporations (whose names are already on the stadium) that come immediately to mind as those that should willingly contribute millions of dollars to the cause of preserving the name while helping to pay down taxpayers' stadium renovation debt: The Green Bay Packers Inc. and the National Football League Inc.," the letter, signed by Nader, says.
"We're certain that you both agree that Lambeau Field should always be Lambeau Field. But beyond your preferences, nothing is being done by the Packers or the NFL to help relieve the large debt burden placed on Green Bay and Brown County taxpayers for generously funding the Lambeau renovation and thereby pressuring the City of Green Bay to convert into a corporate advertising vehicle by actively soliciting companies to plaster their name on the city-owned stadium."
League of Fans director Shawn McCarthy said it was important to keep the Lambeau name in a time of commercialization.
"Lambeau Field being really the historical crown jewel of the NFL stadiums, we see it as a very important name to maintain," he said. "It's great that they renovated it rather than having it torn down. Giving it a different name, especially a corporate name, would undercut the whole thing."
Packers attorney Jason Wied said the team structured the best deal it could before the 2000 referendum in which county residents voted in a half-percent sales tax to pay for the renovation.
"It's an interesting time to discuss how this was structured three years ago," he said.
"It's easy to say we should have contributed more, but we started the project because we were unable to derive enough local revenue. If we had had that kind of money, we wouldn't have had to do the project."
Brown County residents voted to allow the city and team to sell the stadium's name to cut the $169.1 million taxpayer-paid part of the stadium renovations. No action was taken on that, however. Packers president Bob Harlan has said he does not want the name sold.
City Council members have taken the Packers to task, and a resolution to get the team to pay money to the city in lieu of naming rights is being discussed by the council. If the name is sold, the city and team would share the proceeds.
The Packers have veto rights over any sale less than $100 million. That amount is seen as unlikely, as the only thing for sale is the stadium name, not any auxiliary benefits to the buyer such as skyboxes or stadium signage.
The Packers have sold the names of the five gates at the stadium, but those are not included in the deal with the city and the money goes directly to the Packers.
The letter says the Packers were able to "get away with claiming the $92.5 million" paid by season ticket holders through an additional fee as part of its contribution toward renovation. The letter mistakenly refers to these as personal seat licenses, a fund-raising device often used in the building of new stadiums.
Wied, who said he had not seen the letter, added the Packers also included revenue from the team's late-1990s stock sale in the $92.5 million.
The group also said the NFL "could have and should have shouldered much more of the Lambeau renovation cost," saying the Packers got only $13 million through the league's stadium loan program while other teams, including the Chicago Bears, received up to $100 million.
"There's nothing in the documents I've read that really explain why that is," said McCarthy. "I do know they want to promote teams more heavily in large markets. If there was a stadium deal in Los Angeles, the NFL would probably be willing to put up a $150 million loan for that. But $13 million as compared to what some of the other teams are getting ... I don't know the formula behind that."
Wied confirmed the small size of the Green Bay market cut the amount the league would loan the Packers.
"There's a specific structure in place for the G-3 loans," he said. "First, a large market does qualify for a bigger loan. Second, the base for the total loan is how much the team itself contributed to the project, and a percentage of that is the loan. In Chicago, they had more private funding. We put in for all we could and we got every dollar we qualified for."
Nader, a well-known consumer advocate, founded the Washington-based League of Fans, which describes itself as "a sports industry watchdog to increase awareness of the industry's relationship to society and culture, expose irresponsible business practices, ensure accountability to fans, and encourage the sports industry to contribute to societal well-being."
Harlan, who also said he had not seen the letter as of Monday afternoon, was surprised at Nader's involvement.
"They're in Washington? And they're interested in Green Bay?" he asked.
"He's a consumer advocate," McCarthy said. "And this is kind of an offshoot - sports fans are consumers."
McCarthy said the group was studying naming rights and similar issues, and came across the "Save Lambeau" Web site while researching.
"We like what they're doing," he said. "We just thought we'd take it a step farther, and tell the Packers and NFL they should have a hand in this as well."
Among other issues the group is taking on, according to its Web site, www.leagueoffans.org, are the possible building of a new baseball stadium in the Washington area, media ownership and coverage of sports teams, and the folding of the WNBA Cleveland Rockers franchise.
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