The Green Bay Packers will have more room for fans this fall after the team cut the ribbon today on a 7,000-seat expansion to Lambeau Field.
The addition to the south end zone means 3,800 people are now off the waiting list for season tickets.
Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy says the new section blends into the existing Lambeau Field. “The true test is going to be when those season ticket holders and those fans meet their seats,” he says.
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That includes Matt Monroe of Cedarburg, who got on the waiting list 20 years ago.
“I think when I signed up I was somewhere around 12,500 on the waiting list,” says Monroe. “At that time it didn’t seem like a realistic chance of getting them. I thought maybe I’d see them in my lifetime. But the renovation helped out a lot.”
The project cost $146 million. Unlike the renovation 13 years ago that was paid for through a Brown County sales tax, this one was done without public funding.
Mark Murphy says the extra seats will benefit the local economy.
“From an economic impact standpoint, it’s going to be a $12 million per year annual basis economic impact,” he says. “It’s like having another home game.”
Besides extra seats, the renovation includes a new sound system, video screens, concession stands, and bathrooms.
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