Packers spare shareholders details of Jones’ split
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By CHRIS JENKINS
Wednesday, July 25, 2007 9:49 PM CDT
AP Sports Writer
GREEN BAY — Once a year, the fans who own shares of Green Bay Packers stock are invited to Lambeau Field to listen to a presentation from the team’s top brass and take a sneak peek at a few parts of the stadium that are normally off limits.
Notable for its absence this year was any additional explanation about the murky circumstances behind the recent departure of former team executive John Jones.
Jones’ name wasn’t even brought up during a 57-minute presentation by the team’s braintrust during the annual shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday, which was attended by enough shareholders to fill slightly less than a half of the grandstands at Lambeau.
“There was an agreement that we would not discuss issues relative to that at all, both on his side and on our side,’’ said Peter Platten, chairman of the Packers’ executive committee, after the meeting. “And very honestly, we feel the search is so important that we want to move forward and look forward and we did that, starting this morning.’’
Packers chairman and CEO Bob Harlan had been grooming Jones, a former sportswriter and spokesman for the NFL’s management council, to become his successor since hiring Jones in 1999.
But Jones abruptly took a leave of absence in May, just days before he was to take over for Harlan. The team agreed on a financial settlement with Jones late last week, and announced that he had resigned for health reasons related to his open-heart surgery in June 2006.
The statement seemed to contradict the “management concerns’’ team officials referred to after Jones took his leave of absence.
Platten, Harlan and other team officials did not address the circumstances behind Jones’ departure after the meeting, and Harlan said he hadn’t heard any complaints from fans or shareholders about not getting more information.
“Compared to what I heard about Randy Moss, it doesn’t even touch it,’’ Harlan said. “I’m still getting calls about Randy Moss.’’
Harlan, who takes pride in his accessibility to fans, received a wide variety of calls, faxes and letters from fans when the team was considering a trade for the wide receiver earlier in the offseason. One shareholder even bellowed, “Thanks for saying no to Moss!’’ just before the presentation started on Wednesday.
“If you’re talking about hiring a general manager or a coach, the average fan is much more interested in that than he is in the president’s position,’’ Harlan said. “That just goes with the territory. They’re interested in how we do in revenue and so forth, but what they really want to know is, how are you going to do on Sunday afternoon?’’
For the Packers’ 112,000-plus shareholders, owning stock is a source of pride, not a legitimate investment. The stock doesn’t pay dividends, won’t appreciate in value and doesn’t even help fans move up the team’s 74,500-plus-name season ticket waiting list. Although owning stock does include voting rights, all substantial management decisions are made by team executives and a board of directors.
Shareholders didn’t seem to mind the fact that they weren’t given an explanation for Jones’ departure — although there were a few boos when Platten explained that the executive search firm the team has contracted to help find its new CEO is based in Chicago.
That doesn’t mean that finding a replacement for Jones isn’t vitally important.
While the Packers are stronger than ever financially — the team announced a profit of more than $34 million in the fiscal year that ended March 31 — Harlan is concerned about how future league collective bargaining agreements and revenue-sharing plans could affect the long-term financial health of the franchise.
“All I know is it’s becoming a more complex league, and it’s going to take someone who’s very well-prepared,’’ Harlan said. “During the time I was president, we never had a major labor problem. Nothing like they had (during) the last few years of Pete Rozelle. So who knows what lies ahead? So you need someone who’s not going to be afraid to attack it.’’
The Packers have formed an 11-member search committee that met on Wednesday morning. Platten said the team has a preliminary list of 12 to 15 candidates but is still early in the process.
“A definite timeline would be a secondary consideration,’’ Platten said. “If it takes longer than the search firm would expect or we would expect to uncover the best person, then we would do that.’’
Packers vice president of finance and general counsel Andrew Brandt is considered a leading candidate to take over for Harlan.
Harlan originally hired Mike Reinfeldt to groom as his successor and still speaks fondly about his former protege. But Reinfeldt left Green Bay to go to Seattle with coach Mike Holmgren, and recently became the general manager of the Tennessee Titans — perhaps placing him off limits for the Packers.
Meanwhile, Harlan has assured Platten that he will put off retirement for as long as the team needs him.
“Pete and I have talked about staying around for one year as a helper and a consultant,’’ Harlan said. “If that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. I don’t have any feelings whatsoever of ‘I wish it was over.’ Pete’s absolutely right— we’ve got to pick the right person.’’
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