There are a variety of reasons why people pick sports teams as their number one.
Some people take on the teams of their parents or siblings. Some take on the team of their province and state.
The coolest thing about the NFL being outside of Canada is that I could pick any of the 32 teams to be a fan of for any reason.
There are numerous reasons why I’m a fan of the Packers (and very little of it has to do with players, stats and championships.)
Although, I am going to take a second and throw props to Brett Favre’s boyish charm, Aaron Rodger’s Canadian tuxedo – and the fact that the Packers have won 13 championship titles.
But those aren’t the main reasons why I’m a Packers fan.
Here are my top three reasons:
1. The Fans Own the Packers
The Packers are publicly owned – one of very few teams in North American sports.
They went public in 1923 with shares at $5 apiece. They’ve had four stock sales since then with the latest in 2011 where shares were priced at $250 (not that unreasonable). Today, there are more than 360,000 shareholders around the world.
There’s something really cool about a national sports team being supported by their fans and the public this way. If ever given the chance, it’d be a neat way to “own” and support the team.
Fun fact: As of January 2019, there were 137,000 names on the waiting list for season tickets. But you can will them to your family which they don’t come up for sale very often.
2. Packers fans volunteer to help shovel snow off the seats in winter
We all know how much I love winter.
When the snow falls late in the football season in Green Bay, the Packers look to the community for help. Thousands of people come out to shovel the snow off the aluminum benches and clear the field.
Packers supply the shovels and pay an hourly wage. How cool is that?
Not to mention how incredible the stadium is when it turns into a snowglobe. Absolutely magical.
3. The Stadium is (nearly) as big as Green Bay
You can’t beat the support of a small town!
All the feels from me on this one as I grew up in a small community of about a dozen people (but the surrounding farming community and neighbouring towns make it bigger).
The Packers stadium is one of the largest in the NFL seating 81,441 people. That’s not far off the entire population of Green Bay of 105,116 people. Meaning 80% of the entire town can fit inside the stadium.
The support and loyalty of smaller communities can be an amazing thing.
Who is your #1 NFL team and why did you pick them?