The Green and Gold Standard: A People's History of the Green Bay Packers

In Green Bay, football isn't just a game--it's a way of life.

At a moment when professional sports are defined by billionaire owners, stadium subsidies, and the growing influence of private capital, the Green Bay Packers remain a striking anomaly. The NFL's oldest team and its winningest franchise is also the only major professional sports organization owned entirely by its fans. More than half a million shareholders around the world claim a piece of the Green and Gold, transforming a small Midwestern town into the epicenter of one of the most passionate and far-reaching fan communities in sports.

The Green and Gold Standard: A People's History of the Green Bay Packers traces how this small-market, nonprofit, publicly owned franchise became one of the most successful and widely admired teams in North America. From Curly Lambeau's first snap under center at Hagemeister Park in 1919 to the nascent Jordan Love era, Thomas M. Nelson offers the first comprehensive account of the Packers as both a football dynasty and a civic institution.

Beyond the playing field, it is the story of a fan base that bridges politics, generations, and geography--and a case study in how local values and democratic stewardship can endure in a multibillion-dollar industry.

Thomas M. Nelson is the author of Wrecked: The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy (with Jerald Podair) and One Day Stronger: How Union Local Saved a Mill and Changed an Industry (starred Kirkus Review). He is the Outagamie County Executive (Wisconsin) and a former Wisconsin assembly majority leader. Thomas resides in Appleton with his wife, Maria; children, Mary and George; and four-legged kids, Barb (collie) and Charley (terrier).