Andrew Brandt of the National Football Post spent nine years in the Green Bay Packers' front office, and explains why today's release of the team's financial report is significant:

"In the ongoing labor negotiations, the NFL wants the players to share more risk on things like stadium construction, team travel and even practice facility and training costs, arguing the CBA extension of 2006 – ratified by a 30-2 vote – is too rich for the players and a rollback is needed. The response from the union, of course, has been “Show us your books” to which the NFL says no. Now one team’s books -- the publicly owned Packers – will be shown, and the union waits.

The former Executive Director of the NFLPA, the late Gene Upshaw, used treat the Packer financials like the Magna Carta, saying that if tiny Green Bay – the smallest NFL market– could show profit, imagine how well rest of the league fares?"

Go read the whole thing.