Parsons Trade Reinforces Packers As NFL TV Powerhouse

As one of the NFL’s most popular and most consistently competitive teams, the Packers need little in the way of additional exposure. The high-profile acquisition of star defensive end Micah Parsons from the Cowboys provides it anyway.

Green Bay is now surging in Super Bowl LX betting odds after trading for the two-time All-Pro, and with three nationally televised games in the first four weeks of the 2025 season, the team is once again at the center of NFL conversation. 

Before the trade, in which the Packers gave up two first-round draft picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark to acquire Parsons, the team was tied for ninth among NFL teams in Super Bowl betting odds with an implied probability of 5.6% to win the championship. Green Bay is now tied for fifth with the Lions—trailing just the Ravens, Bills, defending-champion Eagles, and Chiefs—with a new implied probability of nearly 8% on the heels of the Parsons trade. 

Viewers around the country, meanwhile, will get a hefty dose of the Packers on their televisions to see Parsons in his new home, particularly in the season’s first month. The season-opening clash at home against the rival Lions will be the national, late-afternoon game on CBS. Green Bay then kicks off Amazon’s Thursday Night Football 2025 schedule on Sept. 11 against the upstart Commanders, again at home. Then, in Week 4, the Packers travel to Dallas for a Sunday Night Football primetime matchup on NBC against those same Cowboys.

Each is expected to deliver massive audience numbers, now burnished further by the interest around Parsons. 

Green Bay will have at least two other primetime games, depending on NFL flex scheduling, including a significant Monday Night Football clash on ESPN in November against the Eagles.

A Time of Transition

The Parsons trade also coincides with the beginning of the Ed Policy era in Green Bay. The executive took over day-to-day leadership of the publicly owned Packers last month, rising to president and CEO and succeeding Mark Murphy, who reached a mandatory retirement age of 70. 

The Packers, generally known as a draft-and-develop team before this trade, also recently reported a team-record $719 million in revenue for their most recent fiscal year. There is no let-up expected as future projections remain strong at both the local and national levels. 

The Parsons trade, however, still arrived with some disbelief. At a function on Thursday to induct Murphy into the Packers Hall of Fame, the former executive was shocked by the breaking news of the trade. 

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Murphy said when initially informed of the transaction.