Packers officials said Wednesday that the team posted an operating profit of $9.8 million in the fiscal year that ended March 31, down from $20.1 million the previous year. The team has been in a slide since posting an operating profit of $34 million four years ago.
President and CEO Mark Murphy attributed the decrease mostly to escalating player costs, putting the team squarely in the middle of a contentious debate between players and owners over a new collective bargaining agreement.
"There are some trends that we have seen over the last couple of years that continued, and obviously one of those is the escalation of player costs," Murphy said. "Our player costs continue to grow at a rate faster than our revenue."
As a publicly owned team, the Packers must report financial information to shareholders. Team officials briefed selected media outlets, including The Associated Press, on the team's finances.
Taking into account investment losses that were less severe in 2009-10 than the previous fiscal year, the team reported net income of $5.2 million, up from $4 million.
The Packers took in a total of $258 million in the last fiscal year, $10 million more than the previous year.
But player costs increased sharply to $161 million, up from $139 million the previous year.
The team said player costs have been increasing approximately 11 percent per year over the past four seasons, while revenue increased only 5.5 percent annually during the same timeframe.
"It's not just this year," Murphy said. "We've seen these trends for a number of years now that really point out some of the issues that we have with the current agreement."
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