The sports franchise as civic organization

With some more rumblings that Wheeling may not have a very long time left in the ECHL, some of the message board chatter brought up an interesting--but not unprecedented--concept: the operation of a sports franchise not strictly as a business, but as a civic organization. The most notable example of this is the Green Bay Packers, who have operated as a public corporation since their inception in the 1920s. The corporation's bylaws state that all profits from a relocation will go to local charity (previously the American Legion, now the Green Bay Packers Foundation), helping to ensure that a metropolitan area about the size of Huntington has continuously held an NFL franchise for over 80 years.

The Packers aren't entirely a non-profit entity--they're in the NFL, such a concept would be an oxymoron--but there are a few teams that actually are: the Memphis Redbirds (AAA baseball), the Great Lakes Loons (A baseball, Midland, MI), and the Kentucky Horsemen (Arena Football 2, Lexington, KY). I like the idea primarily because the investment by the community in a sports team is not purely financial, but equally if not moreso emotional. It goes well with the last bit I brought up, the idea of having control of a team shared among a relatively large group of local investors.