GREEN BAY – Green Bay Packers Chairman and CEO Mark Murphy is among NFL executives who donated money to a political action committee supporting the league’s interests.

Murphy’s $5,000 contribution was among the donations revealed when a look at whether NFL owners donated to PACs and candidates this election cycle. Murphy is not an owner — the Packers are a publicly traded company — but he is Green Bay’s equivalent of one.

Among NFL owners tracked by USA TODAY Sports, roughly 1 in 5 have not donated a single dollar to federal candidates or causes this election cycle; however, it is possible that some members of this group may have donated at the state or local level instead. Another quarter was donated solely to Gridiron PAC, a political action committee founded by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in 2008 to advance the league’s interests on Capitol Hill. Murphy was among the runners-up.

Murphy declined to comment Thursday.

USA TODAY’s Tom Schad wrote: NFL owners donate at least $28 million The amount spent on federal political candidates and causes in the 2023-24 election cycle represents a sevenfold increase over the amount spent during the same period four years ago, according to a USA TODAY Sports investigation.

Mark and Laurie Murphy are no strangers to charitable donations. Milwaukee Public Schools Foundation Inc. in 2020 to provide internet access to students and their families. They donated US$100,000 to his campaign. They also gave each of them $50,000. We’re All Rising in Green Bay, Urban Triage in Madison and burgundy gourd in Milwaukee.

Also in 2020 Murphys donates $240,000 to COVID-19 relief efforts in Brown and Door counties.

The Packers as an organization remain neutral when it comes to politics. When vice presidential candidate Tim Walz visited Lambeau Field during a campaign stop, he was given a courtesy tour of the facility, as many celebrities do. In the past, tours have been given to politicians Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan and former President George W. Bush.

But political candidates are not invited to the “owners” box during games or allowed to hold political events on Packers’ property; this may mean that the organization approves.

Elected officials have been attending nonpolitical events at Lambeau Field, such as Goodell visiting to promote the NFL draft, which Green Bay will host April 24-26, 2025, and being joined by Gov. Tony Evers.

Contact Richard Ryman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @RichRymanPG, on Instagram @rrymanPG or on Facebook www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG.

This article first appeared in the Green Bay Press-Gazette: Packers’ Murphy donates to NFL PAC but not political campaigns