I had a chance to go for the first time to Lambeau Field Sunday to watch the Seattle-Green Bay game. These are my observations and opinions regarding that experience:
1. The stadium complex is extremely attractive. The stadium facade and the huge atrium built into the stadium are very attractive. The atrium houses the team's offices; a large restaurant; a team gift shop that seems to be the size of a supermarket; and the Packer Hall of Fame, which, though much smaller, is comparable to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The team's practice fields, indoor facility, and other facilities are all located near the stadium.
2. The stadium is located three miles or so from downtown Green Bay on the west side of the Fox River. There are bars, stores and houses in the area--including "party houses" cross the street from the stadium that are rented out. But the stadium is somewhat isolated.
3. The Packer Hall of Fame and the Stadium Tour are excellent and highly recommended. There is also a trolley tour of Green Bay that goes past places in Green Bay associated with the Packers--the Northland Hotel, the old City Stadium, the downtown Catholic Church where Lombardi would attend Mass each morning. The trolley tour is a nice way to see Green Bay, which is an old city with a population of about 105,000, but is hardly a must-do attraction.
4. It was cold and snowed on Sunday. There is not much to see in the area except for the Lambeau Field complex.
5. The people in the area, including those in the stadium on game day, are very pleasant and polite. The area is incredibly clean. The weather last weekend was for me challenging. Unless you like a steady diet of bar food or diner food, the food is not good.
6. I stayed in Appleton, which is about 25 miles from Green Bay. When the Packers are playing, the hotel rates in the few hotels in Green Bay soar in price. But it is easy to find in the cities around Green Bay a bus going to and from the game at a reasonable price. My bus was a bargain $25; however, it was a school bus that went from the creatively named The Bar outside Appleton to the creatively named The Bar three blocks from the stadium. Riding down rural highways and seeing a snow-covered countryside, I thought I was in a scene in Hossiers.
7. Though I arrived early, entering the stadium was incredibly easy. There was no check for vaccination or a negative Covid testing. The security check is common-sensical and takes one-tenth the time the security check at the Superdome takes. And then the stadium has young people outside the stadium with sensors scanning the tickets, rather than the fans themselves scanning their tickets, and this process was done more quickly than it is done in the Superdome.
8. The concourse must be about 100 feet wide. There is plenty of room to walk, and there are a number of food and drink counters and booths. There may be a tad more diversity in food offerings at Lambeau than in the Superdome--no jambalaya, but gyros and chicken-noodle soup. I tried only the hot chocolate.
9. The stadium reminds me a bit of Tiger Stadium. The lower bowl goes back to the 1950s and has aluminum and narrow bench-bleacher seating. There is a ton of private boxes, and upper-deck endzone seating was added. Supposedly, the seating capacity exceeds 80,000, but the stadium looks 10,000 seats smaller.
10. The video monitors actually show the game as it is being played. One can watch the game on the monitors rather than on the field.
11. I did not find the stadium very loud. It may have been that the fans were trying to survive the cold, but few around me were making noise when Seattle had the ball, despite the monitors urging the fans to make noise, as they do in the Superdome.
12. Many of the fans stand during much of the game. Of course, if the people in front of you are standing, then you have to stand to see. I suspect a reason that so many stand is that standing, especially when it is cold, is more comfortable than sitting on those narrow bench-bleachers. The seating at Lambeau Field made me appreciate the seating and comfort we have in the Superdome.
13. The stands at Lambeau are very close to the field.
14. Much was made that the Packers have a 180,000 or so season-ticket waiting list. The stadium was packed before the game began, and nearly all were wearing team colors, especially Packer jerseys. However, it must be noted that for the last 30 years Green has had a current or future HOF quarterback.
15. I am glad I went and had the experience. But I do not anticipate making the trip again--especially in the winter. There is simply not much in the area to do outside the game, and the game experience met, but did not exced, expectations. But again, the weather surely affected my experience.