Seahawks' Drew Nowak is a Packers' minority owner

Drew Nowak will have a conflict of interest when he takes the field Sunday night.

The Seattle Seahawks' center owns three shares of the Green Bay Packers, his Week 2 opponent. Nowak was born and raised in Green Bay, and attended Western Michigan before entering the NFL.

Green Bay is the only publicly owned team in American professional sports, and issued stocks to its residents. Nowak gladly seized the opportunity at the time, and didn't exactly relinquish his allegiance to his hometown club.

"When we won the Super Bowl - sorry, I said 'we' - when they won the Super Bowl that '96-'97 season, I still have a duffle bag from that Super Bowl," Nowak said to Gregg Bell of The News Tribune. "I still have hats. I have a picture actually in my room at home, a collage of all the guys from that team."

Nowak is expecting some of his family and friends to root for the Packers, even though he's suiting up for their burgeoning rival.

"A lot of people there are Drew fans - but they are Packer fans," Nowak said. "I can't hate them for it, because it's hard to love a team your whole life and want to switch - especially with the rivalry we kind of have with the Packers."

With two of the NFC's best teams squaring off in a game that could potentially determine playoff seeding, Nowak will need to have a colossal game in familiar territory.