🧀 Why Don’t the Green Bay Packers Have a Mascot?

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The term “mascot” originates from the French word “mascotte,” meaning “lucky charm.” Initially, the word was associated with the figureheads carved at the bow of ships, often depicting a culture’s deities meant to protect them on their travels.

However, in 1978, an overweight guy from Oshkosh, WI had a different interpretation of the word.

In today’s newsletter:

🗞 The Big Story: What the Hell Happened to Peleton?

📉 Biggest Loser: Why Don’t the Green Bay Packers Have a Mascot?

🏆 Winner’s Circle: Philip Rivers Just Saved Himself $34,600/yr By Signing with the Colts

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🗞 The Big Story

What the hell happened to Peloton?

Because just a few years ago, the brand was worth more than the top 10 NFL teams combined, but since then, it’s had one of the worst declines in all of sports and fitness.

However, the reason why is actually a lot more complicated than you might think.

Peloton’s Quick Rise: Peloton was founded in 2013 with a Kickstarter campaign that promised to give busy people a quick, effective workout at home. And it didn’t take long for customers and investors to notice, since by 2017 the company already had 100,000 users and was valued at $4 billion. By 2019, the company had even gone public, doubling its valuation to $8.1 billion, driven by a dedicated customer base of 1.4 million users.

But then in 2020, the world shut down, and after reaching a peak valuation of nearly $50 billion in early 2021, the company made a series of critical errors that it’s still recovering from today.

Decline: The first mistake Peloton made was assuming that the pandemic would last forever. At the beginning of COVID, Peloton couldn’t make its bikes and treadmills fast enough. In fact, new customers often had to wait over two months for their orders, even as the company continued to pour millions into marketing.

See, at the time, the company’s CEO was predicting that Peloton would have 100 million subscribers in the next 10 years, which naturally led them to spend a combined $820 million at the beginning of 2021 to acquire and build two factories to keep up with demand, however, by the time production lines were up and running in 2022, the vaccine had been released, gyms were re-opening and demand started to flatline.

But that was just the start, because after a series of marketing and PR disasters, including:

• A sexist Christmas ad

• A fictional character's death

• A recall of 125,000 “deadly” treadmills

The company lost more money in 2022 than it had ever before, further deteriorating the brand’s perception as a “status symbol.” And the slide didn’t stop there.

Right-Sizing: After investing so much in manufacturing, the company now had over 500 days' worth of excess inventory, resulting in multiple rounds of layoffs and cost-cutting that have left the company valued at just $2.6 billion, down more than 97% from its all-time high.

Talk about a wild ride.

📉 Biggest Loser

Why don’t the Green Bay Packers have a mascot? Well, the truth is they actually did, but it led to one of the craziest controversies in football history that nobody knows about.

Here’s the wild story.

Background: Back in 1919, the Indian Packing Company, which packaged meats in Green Bay, paid $500 to sponsor the formation of a football team. In fact, most of the players who played on that very first team worked in the factory, including the foreman and the team’s first coach, Earl ‘Curly’ Lambeau.

However, it wouldn’t take long before the local paper started referring to them as “the Packers,” a nickname that proved to be very difficult to find a mascot for. So, from the team’s founding in 1919 through their iconic championship runs in the 1960s, they simply went without one, even as other teams across the country were starting to adopt them.

But then, in 1978, that all changed with one man.

Robert Wagner: Meet Robert Wagner, a name that I’m sure even the most die-hard Packer fans have never heard of, even though in the 1970s, he was something of a local legend because of his passion for the struggling team.

See, Wager could be found at every home game as “Gang Green,” donning his iconic Green wig, face paint, tights, t-shirt, and cape. In fact, one article at the time even called him the “unofficial mascot of the Green Bay Packers,” for which he even legally changed his first name to “Green.”

Still, that’s not even close to the craziest part.

That’s because, even though “Green” Wagner believed that he was providing a valuable service to the Packers by running up and down the steps of Lambeau Field to hype up the crowd, by the 1980s, some fans started complaining about his antics.

Kicked Out of the Crowd: So, after meeting with the team in 1983, they agreed that “Gang Green” could move down to the sideline with the cheerleaders, where he would “just goof around”, but as it turns out, that wouldn’t last long either.

Because during the 4th quarter of a game against the Jets that year, Green decided to make his way back up into the stands to hype up the crowd. At which point, Sheriffs were sent down to arrest him, a directive which Green claims came directly from the team, and one that resulted in him being banned from the stadium.

And even though Green’s ban would eventually be lifted thanks to some petitioning from the fans, by 1984 the Packers seemingly had enough of their “unofficial” mascot and introduced the short-lived Packy the Packer instead.

🏆 Winner’s Circle

Philip Rivers just saved himself tens of thousands of dollars per year by signing with the Colts, but not for the reason you might think.

NFL’s Pension Plan: It’s no secret that NFL players get paid well. For example, over the course of Rivers’ career, he made over $240 million. But what most people don’t realize is that even after they’re done playing, guys are still cashing checks from the league. For example, the NFL has a pension plan that, according to Isaac Rochelle, pays out around $1,000 per season a guy played in the league, starting at age 55.

And even though this payout is capped at 10 seasons, for someone like Rivers, who played for 17 years, that means he’ll earn a respectable $120,000 per year during retirement.

So if that’s true, then why did he feel the need to come out of retirement for just $278,000? Well, as Kurt Benkert pointed out on Twitter, it might actually be a 200 IQ move by Rivers to save himself thousands.

NFL’s Health Insurance: See, while players are still active in the NFL, they get some of the best health insurance in the world, which literally costs them and their family $0 per year. This coverage even extends beyond when they’re done playing, for up to 5 years after their last game.

Now, for Rivers, who hasn’t played a snap since 2020, these cost savings have been massive, since he has 10 kids under 26 years old. However, as Kurt Benkert points out, his NFL insurance was set to expire this year, which, according to the league’s own estimation, would have resulted in him having to pay over $2,800 per month or $34,600 per year to keep his family’s coverage.

Now, don’t get me wrong; this is still a great deal and probably even better insurance, but by re-signing with the Colts, Rivers just reset the clock on when his coverage is going to expire, likely saving himself at least $170,000 in the process.

⏱️ In Other News

• Netlfix is paying $10M+ for podcasts

• Meet the Gare Bears

• The Knicks win the NBA Cup but won’t hang a banner

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👋🏻 Happy Friday!

For those of you wondering, no, you’re not crazy, this week’s Wednesday newsletter did not get sent out. I was nursing a 102-degree fever on the couch all day Tuesday and Wednesday, and didn’t get around to writing it.

Rest assured, we’ll be back to our regular scheduled programming next week. I hope you’re staying healthy out there. Wash your hands!