Green Bay Packers. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
The Green Bay Packers plan on having 15 percent of their stands filled.
The Green Bay Packers are figuring out how to put butts in seats at Lambeau Field this year.
Usually, the Packers have no problem selling out games, but when we’re in the midst of a global pandemic, it’s going to affect attendance in a big way for the NFL‘s last true small market team. On a Zoom call on Tuesday, Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy talked about what the NFC North franchise is thinking about regarding attendance at games this season.
“Initial estimates are between 10,000 and 12,000 seating capacity,” said Murphy. “It’s going to be a very different experience and feel in the stadium…We are going to let the pandemic decide for us. We are going to monitor locally as well as across the state how things are proceeding. It’s very concerning to us, not only the national numbers, but Wisconsin’s numbers and the states.”
We can’t be surprised Green Bay is trying to figure out how to have fans.
Even though the Packers are one of the three largest brands in the NFL, along with the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers, they don’t really have a major metro area to pull from. While Milwaukee is 100 percent a Packers town, it’s still a bit of a trek to go from the southern part of the state north to Green Bay. Simply put, the Packers are Green Bay’s entire economy.
“It’s going to be a challenge hosting games,” said Murphy. “Keeping our players healthy, our staff healthy, our coaches healthy, and then you add on top of that making sure our fans stay healthy. We don’t want to get too far out ahead of ourselves.”
Green Bay has afforded its season ticket holders an opt-out clause for this one-of-a-kind 2020 NFL season. Murphy understands that even with less than 15 percent crowds, it’s still going to take a while for the fans that do and are allowed to attend games this fall to be screened for the virus and make their way to their seats, while satisfying proper social distancing protocol.
The Packers are doing everything in their power to have fans in the seats this season.