Green Bay Packers suggest ‘major litigation’ if Lambeau Field district is disbanded

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GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Packers offered their strongest opposition yet to Rep. David Steffen’s proposal to disband the Lambeau Field stadium district during his presentation to the Green Bay finance committee.

Steffen, a Republican who lives in Howard, proposes the elimination of the Green Bay/Brown County Professional Football Stadium District and its seven-member board, which co-owns Lambeau Field with the Green Bay Packers and the city.

His legislation would transfer assets and liabilities of the district to the city of Green Bay, except for $81 million set aside for operations and maintenance of the stadium through at least 2031. That he would distribute to Brown County property owners and other entities.

In the Packers’ view, that and other provisions of the proposal would bust the lease between the Packers, the city and the board, entities the team said work well together.

“Rep. Steffen’s legislation would position them instead as adversaries, as they would be forced to sort out who would be responsible to make up the operations and maintenance funding deficit. The proposed legislation is unwise public policy for that reason alone,” said Aaron Popkey, Packers public affairs director.

“It would constitute a breach of trust and illegal evisceration of the Lambeau Field lease. It would leave no choice other than immediate major litigation to prevent it from taking effect.”

The proposal does not involve the Titletown District, a business and entertainment district owned by the Packers west of Lambeau Field and in the village of Ashwaubenon.

Steffen on Tuesday explained his plan to the city’s Finance Committee, with other council members attending the virtual meeting as well. The discussion was largely academic for now because Steffen said there is no chance the proposal could become law this year. He intends to reintroduce it in January 2023.

The district was created for the 2003 renovation of Lambeau Field. Steffen argues it completed all its legislatively assigned duties in 2015 and should be dissolved. He also wants to distribute the $81 million from the maintenance fund largely created by a half-cent sales tax which ended in 2015. He would give $700 to Brown County homeowners and additional money to Brown County, Green Bay, Ashwaubenon, the Greater Green Bay Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation.

Steffen’s plan calls for replacing the $81 million by redirecting the 10% Lambeau Field ticket tax to the city, which would be responsible for reimbursing the team for maintenance costs determined by formula.

The proposal would allow the city to use excess ticket tax on certain other projects.

The Packers say those actions, as well as others in the proposal, would violate the three-party lease, which has language specifically prohibiting changes to the ticket tax and imposing penalties for attempting to do so.

Changing the ticket tax also could imperil money the Packers receive from the NFL for improvements to Lambeau Field, Popkey said. The team has made about $500 million in improvements to Lambeau Field since the 2003 renovation. The team has done that and added another $300 million in investment in the Titletown District without additional public financing. It has gotten loans from the NFL.

“The NFL would not approve money to go into the stadium if not for the (financial) structure that is in place. If that were to go away, that could jeopardize our ability to get additional funds,” Popkey said.

Steffen contends changes to the lease, such as the elimination of the stadium board and the maintenance fund, would not matter as long as the Packers were not impacted financially. He and the Packers disagree on what constitutes financial impact.

“What is disappointing is that one state assemblyman can potentially drive a wedge in a relationship that has been so successful. What he is proposing is bad for the city, the community, Lambeau Field and the Packers,” Popkey said after the meeting.

Steffen acknowledged, as he has before, that the city might need to borrow money for about five years to meet its new obligations.

Council member Barbara Dorff, the finance committee chairwoman, said she was not surprised by the Packers warning that the matter could end up in court.

“I didn’t feel threatened by what Mr. Popkey said about litigation because litigation is what people do. I took it as ‘yeah, that’s probably what could happen,” she said.

Steffen also stressed a theme he raised Monday that the stadium board has failed to adequately oversee the district’s finances.

Annual audits of the board consistently note that it does not have optimal internal controls, primarily because of the size of its staff. The audits have not suggested any improprieties. Its remedy has been to advise the board to keep an eye on transactions.

Steffen cited “concerns regarding transparency and oversite by a non-accountable-to-the voter government entity.”

District board members are appointed by the county executive (3), the mayor of Green Bay (3) and the president of Ashwaubenon (1).

Steffen told council member Bill Galvin, who is a stadium board member, that “you have not reviewed a single invoice, a single dated work order, you have not reviewed or had any open bidding of any contractors, and I believe with doing that for the number of millions of dollars that have run through your fingers, in my opinion, is inappropriate.”

Galvin did not respond to Steffen.

The Green Bay council members asked questions but did not take positions on the proposal, unlike Ashwaubenon village board members, who heard the proposal in November and were against it. Dorff was the exception Tuesday.

“This is not a relationship I would be interested in risking,” she said.

‘Project Play 60’ set for Feb. 5 in Lambeau Field atrium

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‘Project Play 60’, the Green Bay Packers’ event that is focused on getting kids out of the house to enjoy non-strenuous physical activity, is set for Saturday, Feb. 5.

The free community event is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will take place on the Lambeau Field Atrium’s main floor and in the Legends Club on the fourth floor.

The event will feature popular inflatables, interactive physical activity games, climbing wall, face painting and a ninja obstacle course and gymnastics circuit courtesy of Tri-County Gymnastics. Kids are also invited to join Bellin Health certified instructors for 10-minute mindful yoga sessions to teach kids to use mindfulness and yoga techniques to strengthen their minds and bodies. For safety purposes, event participants are required to wear socks and athletic shoes.

New this year, waivers will be required to be signed by parents/guardians prior to participating. Waivers can be signed in advance at packers.com/projectplay60.

Additionally, with the continued increase in COVID-19 cases, visitors to Lambeau Field are strongly encouraged to wear masks while indoors, though masks are not required. The Packers encourage those not feeling well or exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms to stay home.

Parking will be free for guests participating in Project Play 60, and attendees should enter the Atrium through the American Family Insurance Gate on the east side of the stadium.

Lay’s made chips from potatoes grown in Lambeau Field soil, and you can win a bag

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We guess this brings a new meaning to “ground game.”

Lay’s is providing fans a chance to win a bag of specialty potato chips fashioned from potatoes grown in Lambeau Field soil, a “Golden Grounds” promotion that includes participation from 29 NFL teams (sorry, Broncos, Bengals and Browns, it’s ordinary chips for you).

Lay’s pulled soil directly from NFL stadium campuses across the country, shipped the bags to Texas, and mixed the specialty soil with the grounds there. Don’t worry, they reassure us that plots of rival teams were kept far apart, so there is no Bears or Vikings soil in your potato chips. We’ll just have to trust the farmers and Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice, the Golden Grounds spokesman whose fingers are hopefully not too greasy from eating chips, lest he fumble.

The bags won’t be available on shelves, however. To snag one, Lay’s wants fans to follow the brand on Twitter (@LAYS), and from now through Jan. 25, users can respond to sweepstakes tweets asking for you to “show your love for your favorite NFL team,” with pictures encouraged. Each bag is specially marked for each franchise. Tweeters can also compose a new tweet using a Packers-related hashtag (#GoPackGo, #GreenBay or #Packers) as well as #LaysGoldenGrounds and #Sweepstakes.

You can find the official rules here.

JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.

Can Green Bay Revive the Lambeau Mystique?

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For a second consecutive season, the Green Bay Packers hold the ticket for home-field advantage in the NFC. This year, it will be in front of a full-capacity crowd. For years, Lambeau Field has been known as treacherous territory come playoff time for visiting teams. However, the numbers in recent years suggest a different narrative. It begs the question: Can Green Bay get the magic back at Lambeau Field this year?

From 1993 to 2001, the Packers went 6-0 in home playoff games. With Brett Favre under center, Lambeau Field morphed into a torture chamber for all who entered once the calendar turned to January. The home-field advantage in Green Bay got to the point where it was impossible to pick against them in home playoff games.

It hasn’t been quite the same since then.

Since 2002 when they lost to Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs, Green Bay is just 6-6 at home in playoff games. That includes losses for both Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Favre’s last snap in a Packers uniform came in an NFC Championship loss to the New York Giants at Lambeau. Favre threw an interception in overtime that all but sealed Green Bay’s fate.

Rodgers has piled up plenty of great wins in the playoffs. Still, a lot of the noteworthy work has come on the road, including the Super Bowl run where they went to Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Chicago before knocking off the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dallas. Rodgers often mentions how big the home-field advantage is. This year, Green Bay has a chance to prove it. He wants all the cold weather possible, something he noted after a frigid Sunday night victory against the Minnesota Vikings two weeks back.

“Last year, we didn’t get that good Green Bay weather,” Rodgers said. “Tonight was one of those nights. We haven’t had a game like this in a while, temperature-wise. It’s just different. The whole feel of it. I feel like teams can break a little bit easier when it is this cold because there’s an excuse: the weather.”

Last year, the Packers also had home-field advantage, but it came with its own set of caveats. Attendance was sparse given the limited-capacity crowd restrictions due to the ongoing pandemic. This year, Lambeau will be rocking once again. Secondly, the NFC Championship game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took place on an unusually warm day in late January in the great state of Wisconsin. These aren’t excuses; Green Bay still got to play at home. But this year could bring about all the elements that the Packers usually bank on to make it a true Lambeau Field advantage.

One thing that has stayed the same throughout despite the 6-6 home mark since 2002 is the perception and how others view it. You wouldn’t know that the Packers have held just a .500 mark since the loss to the Falcons way back when based on how Lambeau is discussed when the playoffs roll in. It is still viewed by most as the biggest home-field advantage in the NFL. This year could set up perfectly for them to reclaim that narrative.

In the divisional round, Green Bay’s four potential opponents are the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams, and Arizona Cardinals. It would take a near-perfect game for the Eagles to beat the Buccaneers this weekend. But they will head to Lambeau the following week if they do. They are the only ones in the bunch that is a cold-weather team.

Both Arizona and Los Angeles play in cushy stadiums. The Cardinals have a retractable roof, and the Rams have a canopy-type setup. San Francisco’s home isn’t quite as glamorous, but they’re a West Coast team not accustomed to sub-freezing temperatures. Still, all those teams pose their own threats that could wash out the Packers.

This year feels like the best chance Green Bay has had to win the whole thing in quite some time. Last year was great, but the limited crowds and fizzling defense didn’t help. This year Rodgers is on his way to back-to-back MVPs, Lambeau will be jam-packed, and, perhaps most importantly, Green Bay is getting healthy at the right time. David Bakhtiari and Josh Myers have returned, and they expect to get Za’Darius Smith and Jaire Alexander back.

The Lambeau magic still feels present, even though the numbers indicate otherwise. This year, the Packers have a chance to show how valuable it is to play in the Frozen Tundra.

Packers, 49ers at Lambeau Saturday on FOX6

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The Green Bay Packers will face the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional playoff at Lambeau Field. Kickoff is set for 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22. It’s a matchup you’ll see ONLY ON FOX6!

Deebo Samuel and the San Francisco 49ers have started another playoff run after hanging on in a frantic wild-card finish against Dallas.

Dak Prescott and the Cowboys will have to keep waiting for that elusive deep trip in the postseason.

San Francisco’s versatile receiver ran 26 yards for a touchdown the play after an interception by Prescott, and the 49ers held on for a 23-17 victory over the Cowboys on Sunday.

The Cowboys had a final chance with 32 seconds remaining and were at the San Francisco 41 with 14 seconds to go when Prescott took off up the middle intending to slide and spike the ball for a final play.

But Dallas didn’t get the snap off from the 24 until after the clock hit 0:00. After a brief delay, referee Alex Kemp announced the game was over.

The 49ers overcame an interception by Jimmy Garoppolo when they led by 13 in the fourth quarter. Prescott ran for a touchdown to get within a score, and had a chance to drive Dallas to a go-ahead score. But the 49ers got a stop at midfield when Prescott’s desperation fourth-down pass was just out of the receiver Cedrick Wilson’s reach.

After a 14th penalty from the NFL’s most-penalized team in the regular season that helped San Francisco run out most of the clock — and the frantic final seconds as Dallas tried for the win — the 49ers (11-7) clinched their first playoff victory at the Cowboys in a storied postseason rivalry.

Now they head to Green Bay for a divisional game, looking for another trip to the NFC championship game.

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“It was like the whole day, it really was,” Garoppolo said of the final sequence. “It was a dogfight, hell of an atmosphere out here. I mean, the fans were nuts. It was everything we thought it was going to be. It was fun.”

The wait for Dallas (12-6) to get that far in the playoffs will reach at least 27 years after another first-game flameout in the postseason for Prescott, the second in three trips over six seasons for the star quarterback. It was his first playoff game since signing a $40-million-a-year contract in the offseason.

The 49ers were in control in the fourth quarter, but not leaning on the running game they figured could carry them to a win when Garoppolo threw an interception to Anthony Brown that set up Prescott’s 7-yard scoring run.

Garoppolo’s mistake wasn’t long after Prescott was picked off at the Dallas 26 by K’Waun Williams and Samuel ran untouched on a cutback up the middle to the end zone on the next play for a 23-7 lead.

San Francisco lost star pass rusher Nick Bosa to a concussion just before halftime when he was crunched in the head and neck area by teammate D.J. Jones. But the 49ers kept enough pressure on Prescott, finishing with five sacks while holding the NFL’s No. 1 offense to 307 yards.

“Guys just stepping up big in big key situations, that’s really what it was all day,” Garoppolo said. “Early on, we got it rolling with the offense and the defense just throughout the entire day. We got some dogs on our defense, man. It’s fun.”

San Francisco scored on its first four possessions, but three times settled for field goals from Robbie Gould to help keep the Cowboys close.

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The Cowboys had all three timeouts after Prescott’s desperate pass to Wilson fell incomplete.

The 49ers got a first down on the second holding penalty by a Dallas defensive lineman on a running play, and Samuel got all but a few inches needed for a first on a third-and-11 run with a minute remaining.

San Francisco planned to finish off the victory with a fourth-down play, but a false start penalty led to a punt instead.

The Cowboys started at their 20 with 32 seconds to go. Wilson pitched to CeeDee Lamb on a hook-and-ladder play for 20 yards, and tight end Dalton Schultz gained 9 yards before getting out of bounds with 14 seconds remaining.

When Prescott slid at the end of a 17-yard run, there were eight seconds to go. The snap didn’t beat the clock.

San Francisco rookie Elijah Mitchell ran for 96 yards and the game’s first points on a 4-yard run. Samuel had 72 yards on 10 carries and three catches for 38 yards.

As was the case most of the season, Dallas couldn’t get the running game going with Ezekiel Elliott. The two-time rushing champion had 31 yards on 12 carries as the Cowboys were outgained 169-77 on the ground.

Prescott was 23 of 43 for 254 yards. Garoppolo, who doesn’t know when his last game with the 49ers will be with rookie Trey Lance waiting his turn, was 16 of 25 for 172 yards.