List of Green Bay Packers stadiums

A photo of Lambeau Field.
Lambeau Field, the current home of the Green Bay Packers.
A photo of the gate and sign to City Stadium
The gate to City Stadium, which still is in use by the Green Bay East High School.

The Green Bay Packers have played home games in eight stadiums since their establishment as a professional football team in 1919.[1] Their first home was Hagemeister Park, where they played from 1919 to 1922, including their first two seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Hagemeister Park was a park owned by the Hagemeister brewery; during games ropes were set-up around the field and attendees either walked up or parked their cars nearby and used them for seats. After the first season, a small grandstand was built and the field was fenced off.[2] Green Bay East High School was built at the location of Hagemeister Park in 1922, which forced the Packers to move to Bellevue Park, a small minor league baseball stadium that seated 5,000. They only played for two seasons at Bellevue Park before moving to City Stadium in 1925. Although City Stadium was the Packers' official home field, in 1933 they began to play part of their home schedule in Milwaukee to attract more fans and revenue. After hosting one game at Borchert Field in 1933, the Packers played two or three home games each year in Milwaukee, at Wisconsin State Fair Park from 1934 to 1951 and at Marquette Stadium in 1952. The games were moved to Milwaukee County Stadium after it opened in 1953 and continued through 1994, after which the Packers moved back to Green Bay permanently.

As of 2016, the current home of the Green Bay Packers is Lambeau Field, a 81,435 seating capacity stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin. By the 1950s, City Stadium was seen by the NFL as too small and outdated to host an NFL team. After threats of forcing the team to move to Milwaukee, the City of Green Bay built New City Stadium, which was funded by a voter-approved bond issue, in 1957.[3] In April 1956, Green Bay voters responded by approving (70.3%) a bond issue to finance the new stadium.[4] After the Packers founder, Curly Lambeau, died in 1965, the stadium was renamed to Lambeau Field. Its original capacity was 32,500 seats, although it was continually expanded from 1961 to 1995 to a capacity of 60,890 seats.[5][6][7] The stadium was farther renovated from 2001 to 2003 to a capacity of 72,515, while also updating various aspects of the stadium. The south endzone was expanded in 2013 and the Lambeau Atrium entrance was completed in 2015. These renovations increased the stadium's capacity to 81,435, making it the third largest football stadium in America. It has been continuously ranked as providing one of the best game time experiences for fans in the NFL. As of 2016, it is also the oldest continually operating NFL stadium, with the Packers having completed their 59th season. Only the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field have longer active home-field tenures in American professional sports.[8]

Stadiums

Stadium Location Capacity (Seats) Opened Closed
Hagemeister Park Green Bay, WI 3,500 1919 1922
Bellevue Park Green Bay, WI 5,000 1923 1924
City Stadium Green Bay, WI 25,000 1925 1956
Borchert Field Milwaukee, WI 13,000 1933 1933
Wisconsin State Fair Park (Grandstand) West Allis, WI Unknown 1934 1951
Marquette Stadium Milwaukee, WI 24,000 1952 1952
Milwaukee County Stadium Milwaukee, WI 53,192 1953 1994
Lambeau Field Green Bay, WI 81,435 1957 Present

Practice Facilities

A photo of the Don Hutson Center.
The Don Hutson Center, the largest part of the Green Bay Packers practice facility.

In addition to Lambeau Field, the Green Bau Packers operate three separate practice facilities that are part of a large complex located across the street from the stadium. These facilities include two full-size outdoor football fields, Clarke Hinkle Field and Ray Nitschke Field, and an indoor training area called the Don Hutson Center. Clarke Hinkle Field, built in 1958, currently has a natural grass field reinforced with fibers using the Desso GrassMaster system, which is the same surface as Lambeau Field. Both the Don Hutson Center, built in 1994, and Ray Nitschke Field, built in 1997, have FieldTurf playing surfaces, which are used by many other stadiums within the NFL. The team has also hosted its yearly training camp at St. Norbert College since 1958.[9]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Category:American football venues in Wisconsin.

References

  1. ↑ "Green Bay Packers Stadium Info". Other homes of the Packers, 1919-94. National Football League. August 4, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  2. ↑ Christl, Cliff (June 26, 2014). "Tale of two Hagemeister ballparks". National Football League. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
  3. ↑ "New grid stadium planned by Packers". Milwaukee Journal. United Press. August 25, 1955. p. 18-part 2.
  4. ↑ "Bay votes a big 'yes' on stadium". Milwaukee Journal. United Press. April 4, 1956. p. 17-part 2.
  5. ↑ "Capacity to be boosted at Green Bay stadium". Milwaukee Journal. March 9, 1961. p. 10-part 2.
  6. ↑ Johnson, Chuck (August 12, 1965). "Packers in shape for debut". Milwaukee Journal. p. 15.
  7. ↑ "Packers start stadium work". Milwaukee Journal. January 23, 1970. p. 15-part 2.
  8. ↑ "Expansion Planned for Lambeau". The New York Times. Associated Press. August 26, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  9. ↑ http://www.packers.com/news-and-events/training-camp/st-norbert-college.html
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