GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – There’s a buzz around Green Bay as the Packers prepare for their home opener against the Saints on Sunday. But the game isn’t the only attraction in town.
The finishing touches are being put on the field at Lambeau as the Packers organization plans to not only welcome the Saints to town, but tens of thousands of fans to Lambeau Field and the stadium district all weekend long.
“As the week nears it’s weekend we have more fans coming in from out of town, we have more people in the atrium, we have more people in the hall of fame taking stadium tours, so you can tell when the weekend is upon us and I think everyone here just senses that and feels that. So, it’s exciting,” said Aaron Popkey, director of public affairs for the Packers.
Opening weekend activities are already underway. “It’s exciting. You can feel that everybody is starting to come in and start to flood Lambeau field so you can feel the excitement coming in for sure,” said Alicia Santaga of De Pere.
The Pro Shop is busy and out of towners are gearing up for everything the weekend has to offer.
According to Austin Blondell from Raleigh, NC, “Going to concert, going out to dinner tonight, concert tomorrow, and then tailgating for the game on Sunday and we’ll all be there.”
Saturday night’s concert in the Lambeau lot, featuring the Stone Temple Pilots and Collective Soul, is expected to draw thousands of people to the stadium district.
Family-friendly events in Titletown will bring crowds too.
Then, on Sunday, Lambeau Field will be full for the game.
Ticket brokers say there are still plenty of seats available, and for a good price, something that is unusual for the home opener with a new quarterback at the helm.
“We’re hearing excuses that we normally don’t hear this time of year. Now, December, January, yeah I’d expect it. Even when they’re winning it’s hard to sell them when it’s cold. But, this time of year when it’s nice out, people should want to go. Tickets are barely over face now,” said John Schmidt from Schmitty’s Tickets Inc.
The Packers are reminding everyone, heading to the home opener, to update the Packers app of their smart device in order to access your game ticket and all the other information that will help fans navigate the stadium and gameday with ease.
Aaron Popkey added, “The pedestals that we have to go with the mobile tickets have been really an enhanced process that has worked well and we anticipate that becoming even smoother but let’s make sure everybody has the app updated so they don’t run into a bottleneck on Sunday.”
