Lambeau Field

Lambeau Field
The Frozen Tundra / Titletown USA
Former names	City Stadium (1957–64)
Location	1265 Lombardi Avenue, Green Bay, Wisconsin 54304
Broke ground	1956
Opened	September 29, 1957
Owner	City of Green Bay and Green Bay/Brown County Professional Football Stadium District
Operator	Green Bay Packers
Surface	DD GrassMaster
Construction cost	$960,000 USD $295 million USD (2003 Renovation)
Architect	Somerville Associates
Capacity	72,928[1]
Tenants
Green Bay Packers (NFL) (1957–present)

Lambeau Field is an outdoor football stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the home of the NFL's Green Bay Packers. Opened in 1957 as City Stadium, it replaced the original City Stadium as the Packers' home field. For that reason, it was also informally known as New City Stadium until 1965, when it was renamed in memory of Packers founder, player, and long-time head coach, Curly Lambeau, who had died earlier in the year.

Lambeau Field was the first stadium built for the exclusive use of an NFL team, and is the longest continuously-occupied stadium in the NFL.

The stadium's street address has been 1265 Lombardi Avenue since 1968, when Highland Avenue was renamed in honor of Vince Lombardi. It sits on a block bounded by Lombardi Avenue (north); Oneida Street (east); Stadium Drive and Valley View Road (south); and Ridge Road (west). The playing field at the stadium sits at an elevation of 640 feet (195 m) above sea level^[2].

History

Packers need a modern facility

In 1955, the other NFL owners had threatened to force the franchise to move to Milwaukee if the stadium conditions in Green Bay were not improved. In 1956, Green Bay voters responded by approving (70.3%) a bond issue to finance the new stadium. The original cost in 1957 was $960,000 (paid off in 1978) and its seating capacity was 32,500.

The new stadium would be the first modern stadium built specifically for an NFL franchise. At that time, all the other NFL teams were playing either in facilities shared with Major League Baseball teams, or in other pre-existing shared facilities.

The site, now bordered on three sides by the village of Ashwaubenon, was selected because it had a natural slope, ideal for creating the bowl shape. The nearby outdoor practice fields (Clarke Hinkle Field and Ray Nitschke Field) and Don Hutson Center are all in Ashwaubenon, as was the Packers Hall of Fame until 2003.

The new City Stadium was officially opened on September 29, 1957, as the Packers beat the Bears 21–17. In a ceremony before the game, the stadium was dedicated by Vice President Richard Nixon.

Although they now had a modern facility in Green Bay, the Packers continued their tradition (since 1933) of playing two or three regular-season games a year at County Stadium in Milwaukee, 120 miles to the south. Beginning in 1995, regular-season games were no longer scheduled in Milwaukee, and Lambeau Field became their only home field. Former Milwaukee ticket holders receive tickets to a preseason game and games 2 and 5 of the regular season home schedule, in what is referred to as the "Gold package." Green Bay season ticket holders receive tickets to the remaining home games as part of their "Green package."

Expansion, 1961–95

Demand for tickets at the new stadium easily outstripped supply, not coincidentally after the arrival of coach Vince Lombardi in 1959. In 1961, four years after it opened, the stadium's capacity was increased to 38,669.

Since then, the Packers have been regularly increasing the seating capacity. The bowl was increased to 42,327 in 1963, to 50,852 in 1965 and to 56,263 in 1970, when the stadium was fully enclosed for the first time as the various stands were joined into one continuous oval around the field.

Construction of 72 private boxes in 1985 increased the seating capacity to 56,926, and a 1990 addition of 36 additional boxes and 1,920 theatre-style club seats brought the number to 59,543. In 1995, a $4.7-million project put 90 more private boxes in the previously open north end zone, again giving the stadium the feel of a complete bowl and increasing capacity to 60,890.

2003 renovation

By the end of the 1990s, the Packers believed that they needed to update the facility to remain financially competitive in the NFL. Rather than build a new stadium, Chairman/CEO Bob Harlan and President/COO John Jones unveiled a $295 million plan to renovate Lambeau Field in January 2000. It was to be paid for partly by the team via the 1997-98 stock sale, which netted more than $20 million. Most of the proceeds were to be paid through a 0.5% sales tax in Brown County and personal seat license fees on season ticket holders. After their plan won approval by the Wisconsin State Legislature, it was ratified by Brown County voters on September 12, 2000 by a 53%-47% margin. Construction began early in 2001.

The renovated Lambeau Field on game day.

The massive redevelopment plan was designed to update the facilities, add more premium and suite seating, yet preserve the seating bowl, keeping the storied natural grass playing field of the "frozen tundra." The project was completed in time for the 2003 season, bringing the current capacity to 72,928. Construction management was conducted by Turner Construction Sports, and proved to be of remarkably little disruption to the 2001 and 2002 seasons. By contrast, the Chicago Bears were forced to relocate to Memorial Stadium of the University of Illinois in Champaign in 2002 while Soldier Field was reconfigured.

The Packers have now been tenants at Lambeau Field longer than any other NFL team has occupied its own current stadium. In 2007, the Packers completed their 51st season at Lambeau, surpassing the all-time NFL occupancy record set by the Chicago Bears at Wrigley Field (1921–70). (While Soldier Field in Chicago has been the site of a football stadium longer, it was not the home of the Bears until 1971.) Only the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley can boast of longer active home-field tenures in American professional sports.

Lambeau Field panorama from October 3, 2004

Although the capacity has more than doubled since Lambeau Field was opened, demand for tickets remains high: season tickets have been sold out since 1960, and more than 81,000 names remain on the waiting list (with a reported average wait time of 30 years).^[3]

During the 2007 season, Lambeau Field was voted the number one NFL stadium in game-day atmosphere and fan experience by a Sports Illustrated online poll.^[4]

In 2009, The Sports Turf Managers Association named Lambeau Field the 2009 Field of the Year.^[5]

Through the 2009 season, the Packers have compiled a 182-106-4 (.631) regular season mark at Lambeau Field.

Name and nickname

New City Stadium

The original name of Lambeau Field lasted through the 1964 season. Officially "City Stadium," the name "New City Stadium" was used informally to distinguish the stadium from its predecessor, which had become the home of the Green Bay East High School football team.

Lambeau Field

A statue of Curly Lambeau stands near the main entrance

New City Stadium was renamed "Lambeau Field" by the city on September 11, 1965, following the death of Packers founder Curly Lambeau earlier that year.

Besides founding the team in 1919, Lambeau played for the Packers in their early years and was the team's coach for 31 seasons through 1949. He shares the distinction with rival George Halas of the Chicago Bears of coaching his team to the most NFL championships, with 6. Lambeau was inducted as a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio in 1963.

Corporate naming rights

On November 7, 2000, two months after Brown County voters approved a sales tax to fund Lambeau Field's renovation, a second referendum was presented to the same Brown County voters. This referendum asked whether or not naming rights to the renovated stadium should be sold in order to retire earlier the 0.5% sales tax created to cover construction costs. The referendum passed 53% to 47%, the exact percentage by which voters approved the sales tax.^[6][7]

After the vote passed, the Packers entered talks with the City of Green Bay, which owns the stadium, to further explore the options. The City and team agreed to sell the rights if a price of $100 million could be realized, although no buyer has been found.

The Packers, although agreeing to be bound by the will of the voters, have consistently stressed that they would prefer Lambeau Field keep its traditional name, honoring the club's founder.^[7]

The Packers have sold naming rights to the five entrance gates. From the north going clockwise, they are: Miller Brewing (atrium gate), the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin (east gate facing Oneida Street), Mills Fleet Farm stores (southwest gate), Associated Bank (west gate and private box entrance), and Verizon (northwest gate). Miller Brewing is also a sponsor of the atrium, and has a section in one end zone called the "Miller Lite End Zone," giving away tickets in that area with various beer promotions.

"The Frozen Tundra"

An empty Lambeau Field.

The stadium's nickname was spawned by the 1967 NFL Championship Game between the Packers and the Dallas Cowboys, played on December 31, 1967. The game was played in temperatures of –13°F (–25°C) with sharp winds, and has come to be known as the "Ice Bowl." The moniker came from the Cowboys' highlight film following the season that included in its narration the phrase, "the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field," spoken by Bill Woodson. Addressing the common misconception surrounding this, NFL Films' Steve Sabol once recounted to Sporting News, "John Facenda never read those words. I know because I wrote them." The phrase was later popularized when ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman frequently used it while imitating Facenda's voice.^[8] An underground electric heating system had been installed the previous summer but when it was needed the most it failed to operate properly. The field had been covered overnight with the heater on but when the cover was removed in the sub-zero cold the moisture atop the grass flash-froze.

The underground heating and drainage system was redone in 1997. After the 2006 season, the surface, heating, and drainage system was replaced. The new grass surface has synthetic fibers woven into the sod.^[9] Even the new video boards, installed in 2004, have been influenced by the field's nickname, being called "Tundra Vision."

Titletown USA

Another often used nickname for the field occurred during a game at Lambeau involving the New York Giants, when residents of Green Bay hung up signs around the parking lot that read "Welcome to Titletown USA," in an apparent destruction of then-Giants quarterback Y.A. Tittle's name, of course, the legend goes that Tittle took one look at the signs, laughed, and stated "They spelled my name wrong." The nickname for the field is still used, but not as often as the Frozen Tundra.

Postseason

The Atrium inside Lambeau Field

Lambeau Field has represented a significant postseason home-field advantage for the Packers. Playoff games at Lambeau Field typically feature the cold Wisconsin winters. The most famous example is the aforementioned Ice Bowl. More recently, in the 1997 NFL playoffs both the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional playoffs and the Carolina Panthers in the NFC Championship Game struggled to adapt to the muddy and the cold conditions respectively. The temperatures during the 2007 NFC Championship Game reached as low as −4 °F (−20 °C), with a wind chill of −24 °F (−31 °C). From its opening in 1957 until January 2003, when they fell 27–7 to the Atlanta Falcons, the Packers had never lost a postseason game at Lambeau Field. However, the Packers hosted just one postseason game (in the ad-hoc round-of-16 in the strike-shortened 1982 season) during a lean stretch of 27 years between the Ice Bowl of 1967 and a wild-card game in December 1994. Although the Packers have lost three of their last five playoff games at Lambeau Field, the overall home post-season record is an impressive 13–3. The stadium has hosted five championship contests: three NFL title games in 1961, 1965 and 1967 (the "Ice Bowl"); two NFC championships after the 1996 and 2007 seasons.

Traditions

The "Lambeau Leap"

Sign for the Atrium outside Lambeau Field

Many Packer players jump into the end zone stands in a celebration affectionately known as the "Lambeau Leap." The Lambeau Leap was invented by safety LeRoy Butler, who scored after a Reggie White fumble recovery and lateral against the L.A. Raiders in December 1993. It was later popularized by wide receiver Robert Brooks.^[10][11]

Today, the Lambeau Leap is a popular touchdown celebration done by players on many different teams, with "Lambeau" changed to the team or stadium's name; for example the Detroit Lions call it a "Lions Leap".

Occasionally, a visiting player will attempt a Lambeau Leap, only to be denied by Packers fans. This happened to then-Minnesota Vikings cornerback Fred Smoot when he intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown.^[12] During the 2007 NFC Championship game, New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs faked a Lambeau Leap after scoring a touchdown, angering many Green Bay faithful in the stands.^[13] Before a game against the Packers on September 20, 2009, Cincinnati Bengals wideout Chad Ochocinco announced he would do a Lambeau Leap if he scored a touchdown, and then followed through by leaping into the arms of pre-arranged fans wearing Bengals jerseys.^[14][15] Willis McGahee successfully did a Lambeau Leap into Ravens fans in a game between the Packers and Ravens.

Stadium music

Welcome sign

Originally, music at Lambeau Field was provided by the Packers' Lumberjack Band. The live band has been replaced by recorded music.

Whenever the Packers score a touchdown, the Todd Rundgren hit "Bang the Drum All Day" is played. This tradition began in 1995 and has since been copied by a few other teams around the NFL.

"Go! You Packers! Go!", the team's fight song, is played at Lambeau Field immediately following the Packers' player introductions and after each extra point scored by the Packers.

The "Go Pack Go" jingle is usually played when the team is on defense or during the start of a drive on offense. A song built around this jingle is "Go Pack Go!" by The 6 Packers.

The House of Pain hit "Jump Around" is often played during one time-out at Lambeau, resulting in widespread jumping around by the crowd. This tradition began due to the popularity of the same song/crowd-participation tradition at University of Wisconsin football games.

The polka standard "Beer Barrel Polka" (also known as "Roll Out The Barrel") is also played at Lambeau Field, usually in the fourth quarter of games.

Other events

Packers shareholders meeting

With the 1997-98 sale of stock in the Packers corporation, swelling the number of owners to over 112,000, a large venue was needed for the annual shareholders meeting. The event returned to Lambeau Field in 2006 after several thousand people were turned away from the 2005 meeting at the nearby Resch Center.

High school and college football

A statue of Vince Lombardi stands near the main entrance

When built, Lambeau Field was also slated to be used by Green Bay's public high schools, as old City Stadium had been. However, a key 1962 game between the Packers and Detroit Lions was affected when two high schools played in the rain the preceding Friday, damaging the field. After that, Lombardi asked the schools to avoid using Lambeau. Since then, few non-NFL football games have been played there. In 1970, Green Bay's Premontre High School (the alma mater of Lombardi's son, Vince Jr.) hosted (and won) the state private school football championship. In 1982 and 1983, St. Norbert College hosted Fordham University (Lombardi's alma mater) in benefit games to fight cancer.

Shortly after the 2006 Wisconsin–Ohio State hockey game (see below), newspaper reports said the Wisconsin football team might be interested in moving a non-conference road game to Lambeau Field.

Hockey

Lambeau Field hosting its first hockey game.

Following the success of the "Cold War" collegiate hockey game held in 2001 at Michigan State's Spartan Stadium, hockey teams from Wisconsin and Ohio State met in the Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic, an outdoor game played on a temporary rink inside the stadium on February 11, 2006. The Badgers defeated the Buckeyes 4–2 before a capacity crowd of 40,890. There were some problems as the ice began to crack during play, but overall it was a success, ending with the Badgers doing the Lambeau Leap following their victory.

Snowmobile racing

A 2005 snowmobile racing event took place over the turf, but even with proper snow cover, it ruined the playing field. In 2004, the event was held in the parking lot due to a lack of snow.

Concerts

Since the renovation, no concerts have been played at Lambeau. The last concert to be held at the stadium was Survivor, in 1985 to a crowd of 13,000. The main reasons for this are concerns of the team relating to potential damage of the playing surface and also more desirable venues in Wisconsin, notably Miller Park and the Bradley Center in Milwaukee and Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.

Fireworks

For many years, Lambeau hosted a popular annual Fourth of July fireworks display, sponsored by locally based retailer Shopko Stores, Inc.

Seating capacity

• 1957 32,500
• 1961 38,669
• 1963 42,327
• 1965 50,852
• 1970 56,263
• 1985 56,926
• 1990 59,543
• 1995 60,890
• 2001 65,290
• 2003 72,928

External links

• LambeauField.com - official website
• Green Bay Press Gazette - Lambeau memories at 50 - 2007
• Lambeau Field timeline from PackersNews.com
• PackersNews.com - Lambeau Field
• Packers yearly results
• Packers game results
• Lambeau Cam from Packers.com
• Don't bet on UW football at Lambeau, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Feb. 15, 2006
• Google Maps aerial photograph - aerial photograph and topographic map
• ESPN.com, "Lambeau or Bust: NFL Experience Incomplete Without a Trip to Green Bay"

References

• When Pride Still Mattered, A Life of Vince Lombardi, by David Maraniss, 1999, (ISBN 0-684-84418-4)
• South Carolina Hall Of Fame: Robert Brooks