Packers: A look inside game day weekend in Green Bay
By Jesse Fry
Background info
One reason the fan experience is different, is simply because there isn’t much else to do in Green Bay. The Packers are the life blood of the city. Green Bay isn’t a booming metropolis like New York or Chicago.
Green Bay doesn’t have the night life like Los Angeles or New Orleans. It also doesn’t have tourist attractions like a Florida team. The Packers are it.
Former president Bob Harlan recognized this and made the Packers and Lambeau Field a year-round attraction. Mark Murphy took the ball from Harlan and continued to add around the stadium.
The Packers News District was added last year to help with revenue and fan experience, adding in restaurants, lodging, parks and other fun fan experiences in a Packers-themed district just west and across the street from Lambeau Field. This is to go with Harlan’s dream project, the Lambeau Field Atrium.
With not much else to do in Green Bay, the Packers put the fan experience first.
On game day, there are tens of thousands of fans from all over the state and across the United States in Green Bay to see the game.
The town nearly doubles in size depending on the game. This week was no exception. With nearby rivals the Minnesota Vikings in town, the expectation was there would be more than a few out of staters in Green Bay.
This was also a “Gold Package” game. This means most season ticket holders for the game would be making the trek in from Milwaukee to see the game.
In the early years of the Packers, the team was struggling for money, so they decided to play 2-3 “home games” in Milwaukee and Milwaukee County stadium to attract more revenue and fans.
The Packers played their last game in Milwaukee in 1994. From then on, the Packers have played all home games strictly in Lambeau Field but allowed Milwaukee fans to retain their tickets and get one preseason game and the second and fifth home game of the regular season.
This has since been named the “Gold Package” for season ticket holders.
So, there was plenty of visitors in Green Bay for the Week 2 showdown with the Vikings.