Fresh from a high-profile weekend rollout in Green Bay, team officials will barnstorm three cities today to keep the team and its stadium plan in the news and in residents' minds. Though details remain to be ironed out, Packers President Bob Harlan and John Jones, the team's senior vice president of administration, will appear in news conferences Monday in Wausau, La Crosse and Madison. Jones and Harlan will also meet with the editorial boards of newspapers in those cities. Davis, a former Packers player, serves on the team's board of directors. Other prominent ex-Packers are also expected to start showing up in Wisconsin, spreading the Packers gospel in an effort to persuade residents that the team deserves public support for a rebuilt Lambeau Field.
Timing is everything.
Harlan wants the first shovel in the ground a year from now, and hopes to be playing in the rebuilt stadium in time for the 2003 season. But the team and its advisers know they need to be on a fast track. The team wants to expand Lambeau from 60,890 to 71,000 seats, create 6,260 indoor and outdoor clubs seats that come with special amenities, improve the luxury suites, expand the main concourse and add a second, and construct a five-story atrium housing the Packer Hall of Fame, a stadium club and retail space. The thrust of the new design is to make Lambeau a year-round destination. The renovation also calls for opening up 4,000 seats to fans who don't hold season tickets.