From: "Rosser Jr, John Barkley" <rosserjb-AT-jmu.edu> Subject: M-I: The Pack Is Back Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 14:13:04 -0500 () The Pack is back! Well, after that eruption I should confess that I was a long time resident of the state of Wisconsin and thus possess a certain regional chauvinism regarding yesterday's victory by the Green Bay Packers over the Boston Patriots in the Super Bowl. But, I think that there may be something of interest here, especially for those who advocate reading the bourgeois press in order to communicate with the workingclass. The issue is the rather peculiar ownership structure of the Green Bay Packers, unique in American professional football, and I suspect in major professional sports in the US period. It rather resembles one of the cooperative form variations of a Chinese town and village enterprise. The team is owned by a non-profit corporation whose stock is owned by the citizens of the City of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Now, this is not local socialism a la the power company owned by the City of Cleveland. Nor is it worker-owned or worker-managed. But it certainly raises a lot of questions about the role of billionaire owners and large corporations, and its ownership structure has gotten a lot of attention in the mass media. Many are attributing it as a factor in the team's success, certainly to the enthusiasm of its "cheesehead" fans (I note that Green Bay is a very workingclass town). Keith Jackson, tight end has been quoted as saying, "In Green Bay, you aren't working for an owner you don't like." This Super Bowl was marked by a much larger attendance by workingclass people than the usual wealthy glitterati that attend these events, and most of them were "cheesehead" Packers fans. I think that this is a mind-opening issue for a lot of people, who take sports more seriously than the stuff discussed on these lists most of the time. The increasing alienation induced by market capitalism in sports has really disgusted a lot of people, and there are commentators noting that the ownership structure of the Green Bay Packers may be a way for cities to "stand up to the greed and power of large corporations." Barkley "Cheesehead" Rosser -- Rosser Jr, John Barkley rosserjb-AT-jmu.edu --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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