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The 45 year old Lambeau Field got its first major renovation over the past few years. The Renovation project cost $295 million. It added a few thousand more seats, expanded the concourse, and added restrooms and concession areas. Another addition to the project was a large five story atrium, is located on the east side of Lambeau Field. It contains an expanded Packers Pro Shop, a relocated Packer Hall of Fame, a stadium club and the offices of the Packers' administration and football operations. It's new name- "Titletown," will become a destination site for fans like us and vacationing tourists. One major advantage is that it will gain revenue not only just on game days, but 365 days every year.
Lambeau Field which was opened in 1957, has gone through many changes since its first season, which includes seven previous seating expansions and some new private skyboxes. As new stadiums were built throughout the NFL in the 1990s, Lambeau Field became outdated. Being owned by the public forces the Packers had to generate revenue to keep the team competitive in the NFL. Capacity challenges, and the need for better private skyboxes, more club seats, restrooms and concession stands, made it very important for Lambeau Field to be redeveloped.
As Bob Harlan(Packers President) was faced with these challenges, he went to work in October of 1999 to construct a plan to protect 80 years of prestigious Packers history and to guarantee the continued viability of the club. After multiple feasibility studies and overwhelming support for renovation over the building of a new stadium, the redevelopment plan was chosen as the proper way of accomplishing that. As the plan was unveiled in January of 2000 by Harlan, the plan in the end won approval in September with the hard work of many people who were committed to preserving the future of the most unique franchise in professional sports.
"Our fans overwhelmingly asked us to save Lambeau Field," said Harlan. "This plan accomplishes that while giving the Packers an economic base to build for the future in Green Bay. We want this to be the No. 1 destination in the state of Wisconsin. We're going to build a stadium that the rest of the National Football League wished it had."
With a classic retro look that will set the new standard for all NFL stadiums, the redeveloped Lambeau Field not only will include an overhauled stadium infrastructure and amenities but also the creation of Titletown, a year-round entertainment and Packers cultural center for all football fans like us. The integrity and intimacy of Lambeau's seating bowl, meanwhile, will be maintained.
Included in the redeveloped stadium will be roughly 10,000 additional seats, including 6,000 general admission seats within the bowl, increasing the stadium capacity to approximately 71,500. Of the new seats, 2,000 will go toward reducing the 56,000-person season ticket waiting list. Non-season ticket holding Brown County residents will have the opportunity to purchase the remaining 4,000 general admission seats on a game-by-game basis, meaning that 40,000 of us will get to see the Packers play every year. In addition, disabled accessible seats will increase from 28 to more than 700.
Concession points-of-sale and restrooms will be greatly expanded as well, lessening the time a we the fans are out of our seats during the course of a game. The number of concession stands will increase from 186 to over 300. Availability of women's restrooms, which was far below meeting the needs of female fans in the old stadium, will increase from 180 to more than 600, while men's restrooms will go up from 436 to over 550.
The main concourse -- currently so narrow in some places that it has become a fan safety problem -- will be expanded dramatically. And a new, upper concourse, complete with concession stands and restrooms, will debut with the redeveloped stadium, greatly increasing the ease in which we can move through the stadium, in and out of our seating area.
A key component of the redevelopment is Titletown, a 366,000-square-foot, five-story atrium located on the east side of the stadium. Titletown will help create an 'entertainment district' at Lambeau Field, a concept pioneered at venues such as Camden Yards in Baltimore and Jacobs Field in Cleveland. Combining a vastly expanded Packers Pro Shop, the Packer Hall of Fame, interactive amenities, stadium club, special event facilities, a food court and the team's administrative offices and football operations, Titletown will become a fan destination 365 days a year, generating year-round revenue -- which is essential to the team's survival -- rather than on just 10 game days, as currently is the case. Special event facilities in the atrium and stadium club will be able to accommodate meetings and banquets for up to 700 people and concert and performance seating for up to 1,000, providing a unique setting for any business or social event. The voter-approved financing for the project comes in the form of a half-cent sales tax in Brown County -- the county where the Packers make their estimated $144 million annual economic impact -- that supports $160 million in bonding for the project. The state of Wisconsin approved funding of an additional $9.1 million for stadium infrastructure improvements. The Packers, the City and the NFL will contribute $125.9 million to the project from a one-time seat user fee ($1,400 for seven-game 'Green Package' ticket holders, $600 for three-game 'Gold Package' ticket holders), proceeds from the 1997-98 stock sale and an NFL loan. Additionally, the club has pledged to cover any project cost overruns in consideration of its authority to direct the design of the building and stadium construction. The Packers' contribution to the project ranks as the fifth-highest in NFL history.
Enabling legislation for the project was signed into law by then-Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson on May 13, 2000, in a ceremony held right on Lambeau Field. Later, on January 3, 2001, the Green Bay/Brown County Professional Stadium District Board approved a new Lambeau Field lease agreement between the district, the Packers and the City of Green Bay, the primary term of the lease to run for 30 years after the opening of the redeveloped stadium in 2003. A groundbreaking ceremony, involving Wisconsin Gov. Scott McCallum, area dignitaries and Packer officials and players, subsequently was held on May 19, 2001.
With construction well underway for the 2001 season, the Packers, in conjunction with area authorities and businesses, have developed traffic, parking and stadium entry/exit plans to get fans to and from the stadium, through the construction zone, in a safe and efficient manner. Information was sent to season ticket holders as well as being available at the Packers ticket office and on the team's website, www.packers.com which you can find a link to on my links page.
As the construction proceeds, we can keep tabs on the progress by logging on to packers.com and clicking on the link to the Lambeau Construction Cam none , which provides updated images of the construction area on the east side of the stadium from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. CT daily. The longest-tenured facility in the National Football League, Lambeau has undergone numerous seating additions to reach its present capacity of 62,500. It easily ranks as one of the most recognized and envied locales in all of professional sports, a fact recognized in 1999 when Sports Illustrated named it the eighth-best venue in the world to watch sports -- and the lone NFL stadium to make the magazine's list of 20. Lambeau maintains a nostalgic and intimate feel to it with totally unobstructed sightlines. Permeated by history, tradition and mystique, the view from inside can be awe-inspiring.
Dedicated as City Stadium on September 29, 1957 -- a day which saw Green Bay topple the hated Chicago Bears, 21-17 -- during ceremonies attended by then-Vice President Richard M. Nixon and National Football League Commissioner Bert Bell, it later was renamed Lambeau Field in 1965 following the death of E.L. 'Curly' Lambeau, founder and first coach of the Packers.
Originally built at a cost of $960,000, an amount shared equally by the Packer Corporation and the City of Green Bay, the facility was financed by way of a bond issue that received 2-to-1 voter approval in a municipal referendum conducted April 3, 1956.
Since that time, seating additions -- all of them underwritten by the Green Bay Packers, Inc. -- have increased stadium capacity from its original 32,150 to 38,669 in 1961, to 42,327 in 1963, to 50,852 in 1965 and to 56,263 in 1970. Construction of the initial 72 private boxes in 1985 swelled capacity to 56,926, and a 1990 addition of 36 boxes and the 1,920 theatre-style club seats (in the south end zone on either side of the scoreboard) moved that number to 59,543.
The seventh -- and most recent -- seating addition occurred in 1995, when a $4.7-million project put 90 more private boxes in the previously open north end zone, first giving the stadium the feel of being a complete bowl. Also that year, just prior to the start of the season, an ultra-modern Turbosound Flashlight Loudspeaker System was put into place at the north end of Lambeau. The new audio configuration, installed at a cost of $210,000, provides highly intelligible sound throughout the stadium while minimizing reverberation off the glass of the premium seating areas.
Installed in the spring of 1997 was a specially-designed gravel drainage system which allows the playing field to effectively handle up to 15 inches of rain per hour, as well as irrigation and radiant heating systems. The new heating system, which replaced the 30-year-old heating coils installed by former Packers coach Vince Lombardi, includes over 30 miles of radiant heating pipe and is capable of maintaining a root zone temperature of over 70 degrees, thus making it possible for grass to continue growing throughout the winter months.
The stadium earlier had been upgraded in 1993 with the initial installation of a Sony JumboTron color replay board in the north end zone. Complemented in 1996 by a new scoreboard project, the two scoreboards at Lambeau provide us with a complete listing of game score, down and distance, ball location, time of game, yardage figures and out-of-town scores with greater visibility. The larger of the two new boards, 208-feet long and 40-feet high, extends across the north end zone, while the south end zone is home to a scoreboard measuring 164-feet long and 38-feet high. In addition to the matrix portions, each complete scoreboard includes a 20-by-26 foot replay board, the original north end zone screen having been moved to the south end zone and replaced by a similar Sony replay board.
Also prominent within the stadium are the names of the 19 players and coaches who have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, which are permanently displayed on the green walls between floors of the stadium's private boxes, on both sides of the stadium. All 12 of the team's championship years (1929-30-31, 1936, 1939, 1944, 1961-62, 1965-66-67, 1996) additionally are emblazoned above the club seats in the south end zone.
In recent years, Lambeau Field has become one of the toughest places to play in the National Football League. Since 1992, Green Bay holds an impressive 53-10 regular-season record at Lambeau, plus a 5-0 mark in the playoffs, for an overall record of 58-10 (.853). Even more imposing is the fact that the Packers have won 55 of their last 62 games in Green Bay (including the five postseason victories).
In the midst of going nearly four full seasons at home without a defeat -- prior to a 1998 Monday night loss to Minnesota, their last setback at Lambeau had come in the 1995 season opener -- the Packers established the second-longest home winning streak, 25 games, in National Football League history. Only the Miami Dolphins of 1971-74 have won more consecutive regular-season games at home (27). The 2001 season will be the last season with the current fan amenities, including the present 198 private boxes; the existing 1,920 club seats; dynamic sound system; and two end zone scoreboards, each with a Sony JumboTron color replay board. Even prior to the start of the current redevelopment project, the Packers organization has spent over $50 million on improvements to the stadium, club administration building and training facilities over the past two decades, including construction of the original indoor practice structure in 1982 and replacing it with The Don Hutson Center in 1994 at a cost of nearly $4.7 million. Unique and incomparable, Lambeau Field now is wholly owned by the City of Green Bay, retirement of the original $960,000 indebtedness having been celebrated at a mortgage burning ceremony in May of 1978. Sold out on a season-ticket basis since 1960, the team maintained two separate ticket packages after moving all of its games to Green Bay starting with the 1995 season. 'Gold' ticket holders (made up primarily of former Milwaukee season patrons) have a three-game package consisting of the annual Midwest Shrine preseason contest plus home games two and five of the regular season. 'Green' season customers (made up of original Green Bay ticket holders) have a seven-game package consisting of the annual Bishop's Charities preseason game in addition to the remaining six regular-season contests. Ticket prices for the 2001 season are as follows: end zone seats (sections 0-8 and 31-38) $46; seats between the 20-yard lines (sections 15-24) $59; other sideline seats (sections 9-14 and 25-30) $51; private box tickets $62; and club seats $139. Located on the southwest edge of Green Bay and surrounded on three sides by the village of Ashwaubenon, the stadium is currently not available for public tours none during the renovation project.
During the Packers training camp, regular season and special events, fans can enjoy a great range of lunch and dinner selections.
Brett Favre's Two-Minute Grill
Cajun favorites from Favre family recipes, steak sandwiches and more.
Chili John's
A Green Bay tradition since 1912, famous for great chili and chili dogs.
Fratello's Presto
Great Italian, from pizzas to pasta to tiramisu.
The Meat Packing Co.
Great big sandwiches for great big appetites.
Game Weekend Hours
Friday and Saturday, 10:30 am to 5:30 pm; Sunday afternoon games, 8 am to shortly after the game; Sunday night games opens at 4 pm
Click here for the NEW 2002-03 Game Day Access plan.