Lambeau Field awaits facelift

by Robert Imrie
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Vince Lombardi roamed the sideline of Lambeau Field. Hall of Famers Ray Nitschke, Paul Hornung and Bart Starr played there.

As the Green Bay Packers won five NFL titles in the 1960s, Lambeau Field became synonymous with champions in the dawn of the TV age and even earned a nickname - The Frozen Tundra.

It became one of the most famous arenas in all of sports, right up there with Yankee Stadium.

Now, this cozy, aging field in the smallest city in America that's home to a major professional sports franchise will undergo a $295 million face-lift to expand and modernize it.

The team says the project will preserve Lambeau's rich history - plus generate millions of dollars in revenue.

Without more money in coming years, the Packers argued, the NFL's only publicly owned team wouldn't be able to afford escalating player salaries.

"There's not a lot of stadiums where people want to continue to come to see it and be part of it. A Lambeau Field or a Wrigley Field or a Yankee Stadium - they are all in that category. We are going to be able to do that," Packers president Bob Harlan said yesterday, a day after Brown County voters agreed to enact a half-percent sales tax to help finance the renovation.

About the only thing the work won't change is the grass playing field, site of one the most famous games in NFL history. It was 13 degrees below zero on the December 1967 day that Green Bay beat Dallas 21-17 on Starr's sneak to reach Super Bowl II.

It is remembered simply as the "Ice Bowl."

"I want my kids and grandkids to be able to see a football game at Lambeau Field," said Tom Tomashek, 36, of Ashwaubenon. He was among the 53 percent of Brown County voters who endorsed the higher sales tax. "Truthfully, without the Packers, this would be like a ghost town. You might as well board up all the hotel rooms."

Lambeau Field is so sacred in this city nicknamed Titletown that fans have been known to kiss the stadium's green steel walls.

Those will be replaced with a brick facade. Other work when construction begins in January includes: Stadium capacity will be increased to 71,000 from about 10,000; the concourse beneath the steel skeleton that holds the bowl will be leveled out and widened because of safety concerns at a stadium originally built to hold 32,150; and new locker rooms will be built.

The biggest change will be a five-story, mall-like atrium added to the stadium's north side. It will house stores, the team's Hall of Fame and a stadium club.

The team will keep playing at Lambeau during the three years the work is expected to take.

"What they are doing to the stadium is probably one of the best things they can do because you are not losing the heritage," defensive end John Thierry said. "You are not getting rid of the stadium. They are just adding on some great things for the fans."

Packers kicker Ryan Longwell said a refurbished stadium at a site with 43 years of football tradition is the "best of both worlds. It's unique. It is the only place in the NFL that will be like that."

Lombardi's son, Vincent H. Lombardi, 58, of Seattle, has "no qualms at all" about the plans.

"It looks different on the outside. So what? Bring in the bucks so you can compete," he said. "You have got to stay with the times and realize the Packers are in a dog fight with 30 other football teams. Sentiment just doesn't count."

Said Harlan: "People were calling me a few months ago saying, 'Hey, maybe this story has had its day, maybe it's over.' It's not over. The voters stepped forward. They love the stadium. Save the stadium and save the tradition. That's all we ever talked about. They voted to do that."