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Completion 4: Lambeau Field
Cost: $295 million
The Green Bay Packers football team faced
a conundrum.
Despite fan loyalty and winning more championships than any
other football club, the Packers still have faced changes
in the business of professional sports that have challenged
their continued success and financial viability.
To remain competitive, the Packers had to generate greater
revenue than they were able to in the existing Lambeau Field.
National Football League teams share ticket revenues with
the opposing team, but money generated by lease fees on private
boxes and fees for club memberships in a stadium goes directly
to that team.
As a result, every time a team moved into a new stadium, that
team jumped over the Packers in revenue. The team could not
survive in a stadium open 10 days a year.
The new stadium would have cost $400 million to $450 million.
But the team desired to save the seating bowl and field, and
its willingness to work around the constraints the plan imposed,
made the redevelopment a viable option.
And, the $295 million price tag also meant a huge savings.
Best of Two Worlds
The new venue had to contain the facilities and amenities
that would generate revenue for the team for years. It also
had to provide those features without losing the field and
seating for which the stadium is famous.
To create something that looked as though it belonged in Green
Bay, architects went around town to look at existing buildings.
They decided on an industrial, 1930s aesthetic because it
gave a strong feel of permanence and strength to the structure.
A carefully choreographed build-demolish-build schedule was
needed to keep the Packers in the game.
The back of the old skyboxes faced the front of the new skyboxes.
There was a pocket in between the old and new where three
levels of skyboxes had to dropped. A surgical demolition was
performed.
Game-day logistics affected every element of the redevelopment.
For example, contracts required that work stopped 24 hours
before a game so that preparations could begin for the influx
of fans.
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Key
Players
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Owners:
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City of Green Bay, Wis.; Green Bay Packers; and the
Green Bay/Brown County Professional Football Stadium
District
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Developer and Owner's Representative:
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Hammes Co., Madison, Wis.
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General Contractor:
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Turner Construction Co., Chicago
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Architect:
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Ellerbe Becket Inc., Kansas City, Mo.
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Consulting Architect:
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Sommerville Associates, Green Bay, Wis.
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Site Civil Engineer and Structural Foundation Engineer:
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Graef Anhalt Schloemer and Associates Inc., Milwaukee
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